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THE 



LAST TIMES 



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AN EARNEST DISCUSSION OF MOMENTOUS THEMES. 



BY 



JOSEPH A. SEISS, D.D. 



AUTHOR OP 



'THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS," "THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS," "THE DAT OF 
THE LORD," " LECtCRES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS/' ETC. ETC. 



SIXTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
SMITH, ENGLISH & CO., 23 NORTH SIXTH ST. 

NEW YORK: OAKLET & MASON. BOSTON: GOULD & LINCOLN. 
CINCINNATI: GEO. S. BLANCHARD. 

LONDON: WERTHEIM, McINTOSH & HUNT. 

TORONTO: W. C. CHEWETT & CO. 

1866. 



1\ 



•\ 



Ovdev avOpaTrc) lafielv fj,el£ov, ov x a P' iaaa ® aL ^ e ^ GefivdrepoVy aXij- 
deiag. — Plutarch. 

" Man cannot receive, nor God bestow, a greater blessing than the truth." 



I claim that liberty, which I willingly yield to others, in subjects of difficulty to 
put forward as true such things as appear to be probable, until proved to be mani- 
festly false. — Harvey. 



My determination with myself is, to follow neither men nor their opinions, but 
God and his word. — Justin Martyr. 



Distinguite tempora, et concordabunt Scripturao. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
JOSEPH A. SEISS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



LC Control Number 



"TEREOTYPED BT L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 




tmp96 027853 




PREFACE. 



This book treats of the future destiny of the world and its 
population, as revealed in the holy prophecies. It was first 
published in 1856, since which time several editions and re- 
publications of it have appeared. It was originally designed 
to bear testimony against certain erroneous opinions exten- 
sively afloat in the popular mind, and to awaken attention to 
a subject too little appreciated and too much neglected by 
modern professors of Christianity. The favor with which it 
has met, and the blessing of G-od which has so largely attended 
it in many directions, together with the increased ominousness 
of our times, and the pressing importance of a right knowledge 
of what is coming upon the earth, have induced the author to 
revise, enlarge, and reissue it, and to enter into arrangements 
to bring it, in its revised form, simultaneously before the read- 
ing public of England, Canada, and the United States. 

The views which it presents are somewhat in conflict with 
prevailing impressions and current opinions and prejudices ; 
but they are the writer's honest convictions, produced by 
faithful study, and uttered under a full sense of the responsi- 
bility involved. They are also believed to be entitled to sober, 
candid, and careful consideration. They certainly have the 
sanction of high authorities, both ancient and modern, and 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

are more and more sommanding the belief of devout men of 
earnest hearts and eloquent tongues in all sections of the 
Church of Christ. 

A few exceptions have been taken to former editions of this 
book. Its spirit was thought too positive, dogmatical, and 
severe. This criticism was not felt to be just. Strong, bold 
language was indeed employed ; for it would be useless to think 
of making an impression in any other way; but as to dogma- 
tical proscriptiveness, or disrespect to those entertaining differ- 
ent opinions, nothing was further from the author's feelings, 
or from the design of his book. Nevertheless, the revision 
has removed some passages, and modified others, which, per- 
haps, were liable to misconstruction in these particulars. If 
any thing remains which might reasonably disturb the most 
kindly feelings and relations with those who see things in a 
different light, the author is not conscious of it, and does not 
so intend it. 

It has also been thought by some, that the book gave too 
unfavorable a picture of the present condition of the world, — 
that the moral and spiritual state of things now is not worse, 
but better, than in former periods. Seven years of additional 
study and observation, however, have only deepened the 
writer's belief in the truthfulness of the representations he has 
given. The difference between him and his critics, upon this 
point, may also, after all, be more apparent than real. The 
truth is, that the world is both better and worse than at any 
time since the days of the Apostles, and that it will continue 
to become better and worse until the " end." As the light in- 
creases, the shadows deepen. There is upon earth a kingdom 



PREFACE. 5 

of evil, and a kingdom of good ; and both are expansive and 
growing. This is distinctly taught in the parable of the Wheat 
and the Tares. The great Lord of the field has said, "Let 

BOTH GROW TOGETHER UNTIL THE HARVEST; THE HARVEST 

is the end of the world." Hence, Christ and Antichrist, 
holiness and iniquity, good and bad, are side by side, each 
advancing, the conflict between them increasing in intensity, 
the severest being the last, when the Lord of the harvest shall 
come with his reapers and make the everlasting separation 
" The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day," (Prov. iv. 18;) and 
yet "Evil men and seducers shall wax icorse and worse, de- 
ceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. iii. 13.) 

The enlargements in this edition are considerable, amount- 
ing in all to more than one hundred pages. Some portions 
have been entirely rewritten. Notes have been added, to 
explain or further support the original text, and to bring up 
the work to the author's increased understanding of many 
important points. Pains have been taken and much labor 
bestowed to present a full analysis of Scripture References on 
the entire subject, and to give a full exhibit of the literature 
of the same from the days of the Apostles to the present. A 
complete Index to every thing important contained in the 
work has also been appended; all of which must materially 
enhance its value. 

To appreciate this book as an argument for the system of 
doctrines concerning the future which it gives, it will be 
necessary to read all of it, and in the order in which it is pre- 
sented. Its force is cumulative. Each part enters into the 

1* 



6 PREFACE. 

support of all the parts, and in its place contributes to the 
general conclusions of the whole. It is only by attention to 
this fact that the reader can do justice to the author, to the 
subject, or to himself. 

As remarked in the preface to the first edition, the author 
of this volume does not presume to speak for his Church, 
or for any party, but only for himself. Nevertheless, he 
is happy to be able to say, that he speaks with Justin Mar- 
tyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and all the great divines of the first 
ages after Christ, as well as with many of the greatest lights 
of Protestant Christendom. And if he is to be censured or 
condemned for what he has here ventured to affirm, the 
Church of Christ itself, in the purest and brightest periods of 
its history, and in some of its most illustrious worthies, must 
also be censured and condemned. 

With these remarks, the writer again sends out this volume, 
hoping that it may not be unfruitful of good, and praying 
that all who read it may be brought to share in the blessed- 
ness of those who shall have " part in the first resurrection/' 



Philadelphia, U. S., 

March 18, A.D. 1863 



.} 



CONTENTS. 



TWELVE DISCOURSES. 



PAGES 



i. the subject propounded — matt. xxiv. applied — 
Christ's return proven — importance of the 
subject 9-35 

II. Christ's coming in relation to other events — 
the millennium — wrong views corrected — the 
advent pre-millennial 36-61 

iii. the restitution of all things — "end of the 
world" — peter's conflagration — repeal of the 
curse 62-87 

iv. the resurrection — rev. xx. — twofold resurrec- 
tion — hopes connected with the resurrection 
of the just 88-111 

V. Messiah's kingdom — how presented in the scrip- 
tures — IS NOT YET SET UP 112-136 

VI. THE JUDGMENT — DAY OF — IS PROGRESSIVE — CONNECTS 
WITH THE MILLENNIAL REIGN — HOW INTRODUCED 
— ADMONITIONS 137-159 

VII. ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE JUDGMENT — UPON NATIONS 

—RESULTS OF 160-182 

VIII. RESTORATION OF THE JEWS — OBJECTIONS TO — NEW 
TESTAMENT ON — ANCIENT PROPHECIES — FACTS — 
EXPLANATIONS 183-208 

IX. THE WORLD TO COME — PICTURED IN THE TRANSFIGU- 
RATION — BLESSED CHARACTERISTICS OF 209-230 

X. TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH — SUMMARY — THE FATHERS 
— AUTHORITIES — THE REFORMERS — CONTRAST BE- 
TWEEN PAST AND PRESENT 231-258 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

DISC. PAGES 

XI. WHEN CHRIST WILL COME — WITH RELATION TO OTHER 

EVENTS — THREE METHODS OF COMPUTING THE TIME. 259-284 

XII. RECAPITULATION — SIGNS OF THE TIMES WITH REFER- 
ENCE TO THE ADVENT OF CHRIST — SENTIMENTS OF 
DISTINGUISHED MEN — DESIRABLENESS OF CHRIST'S 
COMING 285-310 

NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 

KOTE PAGE 

A. OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN ON THE DATS IN 

WHICH WE LIVE 316 

B. THE MEANING OF yevea — "GENERATION" — IN MATT. 

xxiv. 34 323 

C. THE AUGUSTAN AND HELVETIC CONFESSIONS AGAINST THE 

MODERN IDEAS OF THE MILLENNIUM 326 

D. DOES THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION CONDEMN CHILIASM?.. 327 

E. MILLENARIAN VIEWS OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF CHRIST'S 

' KINGDOM 335 

F. DECLARATION OF THE SAVIOR (JOHN XVIII. 36) IN RE- 

FERENCE TO HIS KINGDOM AND THIS WORLD 338 

G. THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST — IS IT LOUIS NAPOLEON?.... 341 
H. THE TWO STAGES OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE SAINTS... 349 

I. LUTHER ON THE MILLENNIUM 354 

J. THE SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD 356 

K. PROBABLE DATES OF THE SEVEN LAST VIALS 362 

AUTHORITIES, BOOKS, AND REFERENCES. 

CHAP. PAGE 

I. ANALYSIS OF AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 365 

IT. REFERENCES TO THE OPINIONS AND WORKS OF THE 

FATHERS 383 

III. CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO MORE RECENT WRITERS 400 

GENERAL INDEX 433 



€|e fast Chiws. 



FIRST DISCOURSE. 



THE SUBJECT PROPOUNDED — THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER OP 
MATTHEW APPLIED — CHRIST'S PERSONAL RETURN TO THE EARTH 
PROVEN — THE INTENSE IMPORTANCE OF THE THEME. 



Matt. xxiv. 3 : And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disci- 
ples came unto him privately, saying, When shall these things be t 
and what shall be the sign of. thy coming, and of the end of the 
world f 

From these words I "begin a series of special discourses 
upon the holy prophecies concerning " The Last Times/' and 
the winding up of the dispensation under which we now live. 

It is agreed, by all believers in the Bible, that very mys- 
terious scenes await our world. Christians and Jews concede, 
that we are approaching commotions and changes, such as 
never have been since time began. Indifferent to the future 
as we may be, and deep as are the church's slumbers upon 
the subject, God's purposes are fixed, and the wheel of his 
wonderful providence is rolling us on to the funeral of the 
"world" that now is. Every day we are coming nearer and 
nearer to a period, if we have not already entered within its 
margin, when the whole present arrangement of things shall 
be broken up and pass away. 



10 THE LAST TIMES. 

No one acquainted with the existing aspects of the world, 
can have any doubt, that we have fallen upon very startling 
and critical times. All society, everywhere, with its politics, 
its philosophy, and its religion, is in a perturbed condition, 
indicating revolutions and occurrences which no mere human 
foresight can at all comprehend. The stream of earthly 
things is overflowing its old banks, and spreading out in every 
direction, in wild, disordered, ungovernable, and overwhelm- 
ing volume. Old systems and modes of thought and belief, 
which have stood for ages, are everywhere tottering upon 
their thrones, and many of them reeling as for their final 
fall. Symptoms of a mysterious metamorphose meet us on 
every hand, causing some of earth's most far-sighted men, in 
church and state, to tremble with amazement and doubt. 
What these approaching changes are to be is differently 
given, according to the different points of observation which 
men occupy. But that changes are certainly coming, all 
admit.* 

I propose, therefore, to enter upon a serious and honest 
effort to ascertain what light the Scriptures throw upon the 
momentous problem. Our heavenly Father has given us a 
"sure word of prophecy," and has been pleased mercifully to 
reveal therein what his great purposes are, and how things 
are to be ordered until those purposes are fulfilled ; and it is 
my design to open the book of God, and to go with you to its 
unerring and inspiriting pages, to ascertain what the Lord 
hath made known concerning those "things which must 
shortly come to pass." I do not propose to take the prophet's 
chair, but to take the place of an humble student of the pro- 
phet's words. I am a learner, not a master — a seeker after 
what has been revealed, and not a revealer of what has 
hitherto been unknown. My purpose is, to keep close " to 
the law and the testimony." I will fellow no guides but the 
inspired writers. And I ask of you to test carefully all that 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 11 

I may present, beseeching you to reject all that I may by mis- 
take utter at variance with God's word. I may err. I may 
not always hit upon the exact truth. All I claim of you is, 
to approach the subject with a prayerful and teachable spirit, 
ready to hear and weigh testimony without partiality or pre- 
judice, sincerely desirous to learn what God the Spirit saith, 
and determined, at all hazards, to cleave to all that the blessed 
Scriptures really teach. 

I know that there is in many a strong but morbid distaste 
for the discussion of these subjects. Some have even gone 
so far as to set it down to some mental defect for a man to 
touch the study of prophecy. But I suppose that there are 
among the men who have devoted their time, talents, and 
learning to this subject, some with quite as much sound- 
ness of mind and justness of taste as any of those who 
have decided not to open the seals which inexcusable 
neglect has put upon the prophetic Scriptures. Noah, 
also, was considered insane for his concern about what was 
coming upon the earth in his day. Jesus himself, with all 
his Divine gravity and wisdom, was pronounced a demoniac. 
And the apostle Paul, in the midst of some of his mightiest 
and brightest intellections, was branded as beside himself 
and mad. And who would not rather suffer reproach with 
such company, than to have that come upon him "which is 
spoken of in the prophets : Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, 
and perish : for I work a work in your days, a work which 
ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto 
you!" And those Christians assuredly have reason to 
blush and be ashamed to whom apology is necessary for an 
attempt to bring before them the wonderful and glowing pro- 
phecies of Scripture concerning things to come " in the latter 
days." Every thing dear and hopeful in the Christian faith 
stands inseparably connected with them. They include nearly 
all the grand motives to faith, obedience, watchfulness, and 



12 THE LAST TIMES 

virtue. God also tells us, that "All scripture is profitable^ 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness ;" that we have "a word of prophecy where- 
unto we do well to take heed ;" and that " Blessed is he that 
readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and 
keep the things that are written therein. " Where, then, do 
men get liberty to ignore one-half of the Bible as useless ? 
Who has authorized us to seal and bury in oblivion those 
grand Apocalypses of futurity which God has given, and in 
reference to which he says, "If any man shall take away 
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take 
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy 
city, and from the things which are written in this book I" 
Hath " the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to 
shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be 
done," and we be under no obligations whatever to seek to 
find out the meaning of the heavenly communications ? Shall 
he solemnly proclaim "these sayings faithful and true," and 
him " blessed" that keepeth them, and we call it piety and 
wisdom to put them aside as loose fables, and repudiate them 
as unmeaning riddles which can only addle our brains ? How 
could we adopt a course more criminally indifferent, arrogant, 
and unbelieving ? Is not such conduct a placing of ourselves 
with the scoffers of the last days, who say, " Where is the 
promise of his coming?" Shame, shame, to the skepticism 
of many professing Christians. 

Let me suppose a case. Suppose that the blessed Savior 
should now appear in this assembly, and take this stand, and 
begin to discourse to you about the last times. Would you 
feel justified in stopping your ears to his words because he 
struck upon this particular theme ? Would you not regard 
any one who should act thus as under some strange infatua- 
tion of the devil, and deserving of severe rebuke ? But where 
is the difference, whether Jesus should thus come in person, 



A DIFFICULT THEME. 13 

or come to us in the written word, every sentence of which 
he has dictated, inspired, or delivered to us for our learning ? 
And if you would feel bound to give him a reverent hearing 
in the one case, why not feel equally bound in the case which 
actually exists ? Christ is here with his word to instruct us 
upon these very subjects; and it would not be worse to stop 
your ears to his personal voice, than it is to refuse to hear and 
consider his written truth. 

Prophecy, it is true, is a somewhat difficult theme. Peter 
tells us, that it is "a light that shineth in a dark place. " We 
must not expect everything to be as obvious and plain as in 
the noonday when all is luminous. Especially in unfulfilled 
prophecy, there must needs be some obscurity in the parti- 
cular details of circumstances, " times and seasons." But, 
there are difficulties to be encountered and wildernesses to be 
traversed just as great and discouraging in other departments 
of learning ; yet, instead of being deterred by them, men are 
rather the more stimulated to meet them, and are accustomed 
so constantly to triumph over them, that we cease to be sur- 
prised at the most astonishing strides of human genius. Does 
the astronomer cease to study and survey the heavens, be- 
cause, with all his aids, he never can fully take in the tre- 
mendous sweep of Grod's universe, or tell what sort of inha- 
bitants are in the sun, moon, and stars ? Does the geologist 
cease to dig and bore into the bowels of the earth, or give 
over the study of its rocks and fossils, because he cannot find 
out all that lies hidden in its unknown centre, or tell how the 
8trata of its crust were formed, or describe the appearance 
and habits of those monsters whose bones lie entombed under 
its surface? Does the physician throw aside all further inquiry 
into the anatomy and physiology of man, because he cannot 
discover " how the bones are formed in the womb," what life 
is, and in what part of the body the soul is ? Why, then, 
should the Christian shun the study of the predictions 

2 



14 THE LAST TIMES. 

which God has given, because there are some depths and 
mysteries about them which we cannot fathom ? Nay, these 
very obscurities and difficulties, which deter so many from 
examining the prophetic word, are not without their whole- 
some effects. It is a real pleasure to the mind to know that 
something has been left for it to do. It luxuriates, and has 
its highest life in the exercise of overcoming obstacles, and 
bringing up the truth from regions which lie under the sur- 
face of ordinary observation. Only furnish to the human facul- 
ties the assurance of success, and it is their highest happiness 
and purest virtue to labor and to wrestle with difficulties. 
And so the glimmering twilight .which hangs about prophecy, 
is just what we might expect, and what we need. There is 
light and plain certainty enough to guide, cheer, quicken, and 
excite ; and just darkness enough to check the pride of specu- 
lation and the boasts of confidence, and to make us prayer- 
ful, humble, and inquiring. The difficulties are not insur- 
mountable. They are not as great as many have agreed to 
regard them. They are more imaginary than real, and pro- 
ceed rather from our slothfulness than from the prophecies 
themselves. People do not understand prophecy, simply be- 
cause they do not study it ; and then they refuse to study it 
because they do not understand it. There is no part of Scrip- 
ture richer or more munificent in rewards for the faithful 
inquirer. It is a garden of flowers — a cabinet of wondrous 
jewelry. It is a vast and varied landscape, filled with beauty 
and grandeur, the horizon of which is fringed with the bright 
dawning glories of eternal day. Here, and here alone, we 
can see the real scope and magnificence of man's redemption. 
Here, and here only, we can trace God's providential plans to 
their ultimate consummation, and learn the real majesty of 
his counsels of love. At every step there is something tc 
encourage and comfort us under the fatigues and trials of life, 
something to confirm our faith and to fill us with glorious 



THE SUBJECT PROPOUNDED. 15 

anticipations. And if the limits of our knowledge can b<? 
extended, and the sum of human good augmented, by the 
study of rocks, and bones, and beasts, and birds, and stars, 
how can it be unprofitable to bend our attention a little more 
than we have done to what our Savior has revealed concerning 
" the signs of his coming, and of the end of the world" ? 

That the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Virgin Mary, will 
certainly return again to this earth, is a doctrine written in 
all the creeds, and sung about by Christians every week. It 
is an event the sublimest in coming time, the most largely 
treated in the Scriptures, and the most deeply involving all 
that relates to the destiny of our world. As Christ is the 
centre of history, his second coming is the centre of pro- 
phecy, which is history written beforehand. I have accord- 
ingly fixed upon this final advent of the Lord as the central 
thought of these investigations, and as the point from which 
to survey the great scenes of the last times. To attempt to 
prove to you that the Son of man will really and personally 
come again to this world, may seem quite superfluous. It is 
a doctrine which orthodox Christians universally admit. And 
yet, perhaps, there is not another article of Christian faith so 
coldly and indefinitely apprehended. Few men embrace it as 
a reality. Few men lay hold of it as an efficacious truth. 
People deny it not, but neither do they feel it. They have so 
much preoccupied their minds with imaginary figurative 
comings of the Savior, in providence, in his Spirit, in his 
word, and in his church, that his only real coming has well- 
nigh become obsolete — a mere dead letter. It no longer 
comes upon the heart and conscience with its proper awaken- 
ing and commanding power. We recite it, and sing it ; but 
we do not effectually receive it. It is in our creed, but it 
cannot be said to be our faith. If we entertain it at all, it 
is at a great distance off. It cannot therefore be a matter of 
small importance for us to review our position, and to en- 



16 THE LAST TIMES. 

deavor to ascertain where we stand in regard to this great 
doctrine. If we have been unconsciously saying to ourselves, 
" the Lord delayeth his coming," it is time that we should 
wake up to the fact, lest that day should come upon us un- 
awares. Christ bids us " Watch; for in such an hour as ye 
think not, the Son of man cometh." " The day of the Lord 
so cometh as a thief in the night." "As a snare shall it 
come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." 
And amid the tremendous heavings of society in our day, we 
are the most solemnly admonished to look well to our hearts, 
and to keep close to the directions of our Lord. 

The great original prophecy concerning the second advent, 
the principal storehouse from which the apostles and first 
Christians drew their faith and illustrations upon the subject, 
— is that glorious discourse of the Savior which he gave to 
Peter, James, John, and Andrew, in answer to the questions 
propounded in the text. Next to the sermon on the mount, 
that discourse is the longest and the most momentous of all 
that has been preserved of the Savior's communications. 
And yet, there is, perhaps, no part of Scripture that has been 
so much abused, confused, and obscured by professed inter- 
preters. Though the Bible nowhere so pointedly, directly, 
literally, and plainly asserts and describes the final advent of 
the Lord, there is scarcely a commentary in existence which 
does not so Jerusalemize, spiritualize, and allegorize it, as to 
leave it the most indefinite and unmeaning of all the Savior's 
teachings. The prevailing impression is, that the twenty- 
fourth chapter of Matthew is a mixed prophecy, referring 
primarily to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and, 
'perhaps , by a sort of typical implication, remotely touching 
upon the scenes of Christ's final personal coming. But what 
relates to Jewish troubles, and what relates to the transactions 
of the last times, no commentary in the hands of the people 
has told. Others, again, apply the whole to the taking of 



THE XXIV. CHAPTER OF MATTHEW. 17 

Jerusalem only, and consider the coming of the Son of man 
nothing but the coming of the Roman legions into Palestine. 

That there are difficulties connected with the exposition of 
this important portion of Scripture, is admitted; but that 
they are of a character to prevent us from using it as a basis 
of doctrine, or from understanding what the Savior in the 
main meant to teach by it, I am not willing to concede. The 
simple reading of it, with a few explanatory remarks, is all 
that is needed to exhibit its meaning with ample clearness 
for our present purposes. 

That the passage, in part at least, was intended to foreshow 
the fate of Jerusalem, with the signs and accompaniments of 
the same, is not to be questioned. That the predictions 
which it contains were not meant to be limited to these par- 
ticulars, but to include the last times and the period of 
Christ's personal return to the earth, appears to be equally well 
founded. And that the Savior does not speak first of the one 
application only, and then exclusively of the other, in regular 
historic and chronological order, is also pretty clear, from the 
difficulty of showing exactly where the point of transition is. 
The true key to the passage, and which relieves it of most 
of the troubles which expositors have found with it, I take to 
be this : that the fate of the ancient Jewish economy and its 
accompaniments was the commencement of a system of admi- 
nistrations which is at length to involve all nations, — a sort of 
first-fruits of the end, — the enactment on a limited scale of 
what is finally and more fully to be enacted on the theatre of 
the world at large. 

It is a fact that history is continually repeating itself, 

and that the future is perpetually foreshadowed in the 

scenes and occurrences of the past. There is also a " latitude 

which is agreeable and familiar to Divine prophecies, being 

of the nature of their Author, with whom a thousand years 

are as one day, and therefore they are not fulfilled punctually 
B 2* 



18 THE LAST TIMES. 

at once, but have springing germinant accomplishments 
throughout many ages, though the height or fullness of them 
may refer to some one age/' So in the case before us. The 
close of the Jewish economy was the earnest of a general 
closing up of the same sort for all nations. The destruction 
of Jerusalem, and the attendant particulars, constituted the 
starting-point; but the meaning of the prophecy goes quite 
beyond these, and grasps a much ampler scene of fulfilment. 
Both are embraced in one field of view, whilst the stress and 
fulness of the predictions reach the last times and the great 
consummation, and presently settle entirely in them. 

The occasion of the discourse is set forth in these words : — 

" And Jesus went out and departed from the temple : and 
his disciples came to him, for to show him the buildings of 
the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these 
things ? Yerily, I say unto you, [the days will come in the 
which] there shall not be left here one stone upon another, 
that shall not be thrown down." 

"And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples 
[Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew] came unto him 
privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? 
And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and op 
the end op the world, or age?" 

I emphasize these last words, because they are the stem- 
words upon which the whole discourse is framed. Christ 
had spoken only of the destruction of the temple and the 
Jewish state. But with this the disciples associated the 
end of the whole earthly order of things, and the Messiah's 
entrance upon his glorious and heavenly dominion. Their 
inquiry, accordingly, had two leading subjects : first, the over- 
throw of the Jewish temple ; and, second, the coming of 
Christ in his kingdom at the great consummation. They 
wished to know two things concerning these subjects; first, 
when these things should come to pass, and second, what signs 



FALSE CHRISTS. 19 

should mark the time and manner of their occurrence. And, 
as they asked two questions in one, the Savior proceeded to 
answer them in the same double form. 

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that 
no man deceive you ; for many shall come in my name, say- 
ing, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. [And the time 
draweth near ; go ye not, therefore, after them.]" 

The indication is here given, in the very first words, that 
the minds of the inquirers were in a somewhat confused and 
exposed condition. They expected the setting up of the 
Messiah's kingdom in connection with the fall of the Jewish 
temple, and hence were in great danger of being deluded by 
impostors, and of accepting antichrists and pseudo-christs for 
Christ himself. One of the punishments of the people of 
Israel for the rejection of the true Christ, was the relinquish- 
ment of them to false saviors and deliverers. In every period 
of corruption and consequent calamity, this symptom of lying 
consolations and promises repeats itself. It was so in the period 
of the captivity. (Jer. xxix. 8, 9, xiv. 13; Ezek. xiii.) It 
was so in the period of Jerusalem's overthrow, as Josephus 
has very fully shown. And it is elsewhere abundantly fore- 
told that it shall be still more remarkably so in the end of the 
present dispensation. Hence the caution, to guard against 
deceivers and false hopes, which applied not only to the 
Christians of that time, but applies equally to us. 

"And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars : see that 
ye be not troubled : for all these things must come to pass ; 
but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, 
and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, 
and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places ; [and fear- 
ful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven.] All 
these are the beginning of sorrows." 

How literally and completely all these things were fulfilled 
in the pericd of Jerusalsm's fall, may be seen in Josephus, 



20 THE LAST TIMES. 

and the commentaries upon these verses. But they are equally 
predictions of what is to mark the period of the end. Indeed, 
they are here called "the beginning of sorrows" as if speci- 
fically to make known that their occurrence in the case of 
Jerusalem's trouble was but the commencement or first-fruits 
of a fulfilment which is to be still more amply realized by 
the world at large. 

" [But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, 
and persecute you.] Then shall they deliver you up [to 
councils, the synagogues, and into prisons], to be afflicted, 
and shall kill you. [And ye shall be brought before rulers and 
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them ;] and ye shall 
be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall 
many be offended, and shall betray one another. And many 
false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because 
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." 

That these things literally came to pass in the times of the 
apostles themselves, may be seen in Acts iv. 1-3, v. 17, 18, 
27, 40, 41, vii. 59, xii. 1-4, xvi. 19-23, xvii. 6, xxvi. 10, 11, 
xxviii. 30, 31, xx. 29, 30; 2 Tim. i. 15, iv. 10, 14; 2 Peter 
ii. 1; Jude 4; 1 John iv. 1, ii. 18; 2 John 7. They are 
also more or less fulfilling continually, preparatory to the still 
more complete fulfilment under the Antichrist of the last 
days. (See Dan. vii. 25; 2 Thess. ii. 3-8; Rev. xiii. 15.) 

"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be 
saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in 
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall 
the end come." 

There is a threefold "end" spoken of in these words : the 
end of suffering, in the case of the individuals encouraged to 
endure ; the end of the Jewish polity, as the first point in- 
quired about; and the end of the whole present order of 
things, as connected with the coming of Christ, concerning 
which they also wished to be informed. That the gospel was 



EARLY SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 21 

very generally promulged before the fall of Jerusalem, is a 
fact of which we have very reliable testimony. Eusebius 
says of the apostolic age, " Under a celestial influence and co- 
operation, the doctrine of the Savior, like the rays of the 
sun, quickly irradiated the whole world." And if Eusebius 
should not be sufficient authority, hear what Paul says on the 
subject. He died years before Jerusalem was destroyed; and 
yet he writes the Colossians, (i. 16,) "The word of the truth 
of the gospel is come unto you, as it is in all the worlds 
"Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye 
have heard, and which was preached to every creature 
which is under heaven." (i. 23.) "Have they not 
heard ? yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and 
their words unto the ends op the world." (Rom. x. 18.) 
But that was only the type of a publication of the gospel 
which is now ever more and more going on, and which shall 
receive a still more marked and miraculous fulfilment as the 
end approaches and the judgment comes. (See Rev. xiv. 6.) 

" [And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with 
armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then 
let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let 
them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not 
them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these 
be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written 
may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and 
to them that give suck in those days ; for there shall be great 
distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they 
shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away 
captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down 
of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.]" 

It is remarkable that both the end of the Jewish economy, 
and the great consummation, are connected with the coming 
of foreign powers against Jerusalem, and disaster to the holy 
city j as also with a flight to the mountains on the part of 



22 THE LAST TIMES. 

those who are to escape destruction. (See Zech. xiv. 1-5.) 
The paragraph from Luke, which I have just given, seems to 
describe more especially the first, and the following from 
Matthew seems to describe more especially the second. 

" When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, 
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, 
(whoso readeth let him understand,) then let them which be 
in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the 
housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house : 
neither let him which is in the field return back to take his 
clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them 
that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day : for then 
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning 
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except 
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be 
saved : but, for the elects' sake [whom he hath chosen], those 
days shall be shortened." 

The quotation from Daniel, respecting the desolating abomi- 
nation, was understood by the Alexandrine Jews as referring 
to the profanation of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, as 
described in 1 Maccabees i. 43-60. And some have sup- 
posed a corresponding profanation under the bloody and sacri- 
legious zealots at the period of Jerusalem's overthrow. But, 
as the passage stands in Daniel, it connects with the scenes 
of the judgment and the end of the world. The Savior does 
not seem to quote it, either, in any other sense, or with any 
other application, than that which it has in its original con- 
nection. It is therefore altogether safest to understand it as 
referring above all to the terrible desecrations to be perpe- 
trated by the Antichrist when his own image shall be set up 
for worship in the place of the services of God; for it is in 
connection with the setting up of that image that the great 
tribulation in its proper fulness is to begin. Hence its name, 

I 

> 7 mA0^&*^ /-w/ 



*a\ 



THE ELECT. 23 

"the abomination of desolation," or, that maketh desolate. 
As to "the elect," or "chosen," different classes are perhaps 
meant. There were some, even unbelieving Jews, saved at 
Jerusalem's destruction; and not a Christian perished. Both 
these classes were therefore in some sense the elect. And 
there will be a corresponding election when these predictions 
come to their ultimate fulfilment in the great tribulation of 
the last days. Some shall pass through the terrible affliction, 
and entirely survive it; and others shall be caught up to their 
Lord in the air at the very commencement of these great 
woes, and thus entirely escape them, (Luke xxi. 36 ; Rev. 
xiv. 1-5,) being the elect of G-od to be the Bride of Christ. 
And when these straits and sorrows come, — 

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, 
or there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, ^ 
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, 
insomuch that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the 
very elect. [Take ye heed.] Behold, I have told you before. 
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the 
desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; 
believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out op 

THE EAST, AND SHINETH EVEN UNTO THE WEST *. SO SHALL 
ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OP MAN BE. FOR WHERESO- 
EVER THE CARCASS [BODY] IS, THERE WILL THE EAGLES 
BE GATHERED TOGETHER." 

Though the Savior may perhaps still have Jerusalem's 
overthrow somewhat in view, it is plain that the principal 
stress of this paragraph falls in the last days, and refers above 
all to what is to transpire in connection with the false pre- 
tences and lying wonders of the Antichrist and his minions, 
(2 Thess. ii. 3-12; Rev. xvi. 13, 14, xix. 20,) from which 
the people of God shall then be in peculiar peril. The last 
verses, particularly, do not refer to the Jerusalem troubles, 
but to Christ's literal and personal return, in contrast with 



24 THE LAST TIMES. 

all pretended saviors and usurpers of his place, whether 
coming as his rivals or in his name, in the days of Jerusa- 
lem's distress, or in the last days. Four things are contained 
in these verses : first, that false Christs and false prophets 
shall come; second, that the true Christ is also to come; 
third, that the coming of the true Christ will be after a man- 
ner and with demonstrations very different from those of 
usurpers and deceivers ; and fourth, that we need give our- 
selves no anxiety about making our way into the presence 
of Christ when he comes, for that we shall as naturally find 
ourselves with him as eagles are where their prey is. To say 
that this coming of Christ as the lightning shineth, refers to 
his providential coming by the Roman armies, would require 
the invention of a similar fiction to correspond with the 
coming of the false Christs, and, indeed, divest the entire pass- 
age of meaning. The gathering of the eagles might be in- 
terpreted of the coming of an army which bore the eagle on 
its standards ; but when we compare it with Luke xvii. 34- 
37, Isaiah xl. 31, Rev. iv. 7, xii. 14, the reference seems 
rather to be to Him who "was dead" but is "alive for ever- 
more/' and to the gathering of his redeemed people to 
himself in the clouds at his literal coming, according to 
1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. So Theophylact, Euthymius, and many 
of the ancients took the passage ; and Luther paraphrases it 
as if Christ had said, " As the eagles are gathered where the 
carcass is, so shall my people be gathered where I am." 

It is also very noticeable how the subject of Jerusalem's 
overthrow, with which the discourse begins, gradually fades 
into the greater and more absorbing theme of Christ's coming 
and the end of the world. Especially from this on, it is quite 
lost in the intenser sharpness of the back part of the picture. 
It is of the judgment period that we now read, — 

" Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the 
sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and 



AN AXIOM. 25 

the stars shall fall from heaven ;" — or, as Luke has it, — 
" [There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in 
the stars, and upon earth distress of nations with perplexity, 
the sea and the waves thereof roaring, men's hearts failing 
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming 
on the earth;] and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." 
It is no longer Jerusalem that we see in these graphic 
words. What is here spoken concerns all the families of 
man, and relates to the judgment-times in immediate connec- 
tion with the glorious revelation of the returning Lord. 

" And THEN SHALL APPEAR THE SIGN OF THE SON OP 

MAN IN HEAVEN : and THEN shall all the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they shall see the Son op man coming in the 

CLOUDS OP HEAVEN, WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY." 

What a shame, that learned men should spend their pains 
and talents in attempts to tie down this language to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies ! 

I take it as an axiom, — a settled verity which demonstrates 
itself, — that two events which are specifically described as 
successive — the one as coming after the other — cannot be 
the same. But, if this axiom had always been observed in 
the interpretation of this twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, 
the students of the Scriptures might have saved themselves 
much inconsistency and confusion, and many a misapprehen- 
sion of Grod's word. If we ask most of our popular commen- 
tators what is meant by " the tribulation of those days," de- 
scribed in the twenty-ninth and preceding verses, the answer 
given is, that it means the calamities and sufferings of the 
Jews, induced by the siege and overthrow of their city and 
state. And if we ask them, again, what is meant by the 
mourning of the tribes of the earth "after the tribulation of 
those days," the answer is about the same^-the calamities 
and sufferings of the tribes of Israel in connection with the 
fall of their city and state ! If we inquire of them what is 



26 THE LAST TIMES. 

meant by the coming of the Son of man as the lightning in 
the clouds of heaven, with some twinges of uncertainty they 
nearly all finally agree upon the reply that it means the flash- 
ing judgments which were brought upon the rebellious people 
of'Israel by the coming of the Roman armies against Jerusalem! 
The coming of which the Savior speaks was to be " out of the 
east" towards the west, and the coming of the Roman armies 
was out of the west and north towards the east and south ; but 
the reply is, no matter for that ; we are not to expect all the 
particular circumstances to hold ! The coming of which the 
Savior speaks is specifically said to be " after" the tribulation 
induced by the invasion of Palestine by the Romans, as well as 
" after" that great unparalleled tribulation of which the Jew- 
ish troubles were the commencement and first-fruits ; but no 
matter for that, we are told ; as though effect could go before 
its cause, and as if priority or succession were nothing in the 
interpretation of a book such as the word of G-od ! I question, 
indeed, whether the annals of learning can furnish a parallel 
to the absurdities which characterize the great mass of our 
popular disquisitions upon this portion of the inspired record. 
No wonder that the doctrine of Christ's personal return to 
our world has lost so much of its weight, certainty, and 
rightful importance in the minds and hearts of the Church, 
when its great foundation-text is thus sacrificed to a false and 
supercilious erudition. 

One of the strangest things in the world is the manner in 
which some people read the Bible. It would almost seem as 
if they turned it upside-down,, and read it backwards. "Eyes 
have they, but they see not." They praise it, and hold it in 
holy regard, and insist that everybody ought to have it ; yet 
they look into it only as some recondite volume, which is a 
good text-book for preachers, but which is quite beyond the 
reach of their understanding. They adore it more for the 
unknown mysteries which they attribute to it, than from their 



THE BIBLE. 27 

personal appreciation of what their own eyes have beheld 
upon its pages. Many seem to view it as a sublime riddle- 
book, full of mystic poetry and unsearchable wisdom, rather 
than as a plain piece of information and advice given by a 
Father to his inexperienced and exposed children. And 
many who sit down to write commentaries upon it seem to be 
continually haunted with the idea that there is something 
recondite in every word, or that the real mind of the Spirit is 
not to be found in the plain import of the letter, but in some 
abstruse or mystic analogy which it is their business to dig 
after. I hold that the Bible is a book for everybody, in 
which G-od speaks for the purpose of being understood by 
everybody; that its language is conformed to the ordinary 
uses of speech ; and that it is to be interpreted in the same 
common-sense way in which we would interpret the will of a 
deceased parent, or ascertain the meaning of a letter on busi- 
ness. It was not written to tax our ingenuity, or to test 
men's skill at learned exposition. Its design is to instruct, 
and in the most familiar way to express to men the mind and 
will of God. When Christ speaks of " the Son of man/' 
he means the Son of man, and not the Roman armies. When 
he speaks of his " coming in the clouds of heaven," he means 
his coming in the clouds of heaven, and not the sailing of war- 
ships on the Mediterranean, or the march of soldiers over the 
fields of earth. When he says "after" the Jewish tribulations 
are ended, he means "after" those tribulations, and not before 
they began, or while they were yet in their incipiency. And 
Trhen he says that all the tribes of the earth " shall see the 
JSon of man coining in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory" expositors might as well attempt to demonstrate 
to me that day is nigkt, or that white is black, as to attempt 
to make me believe that he means the march of an army of 
boorish heathen soldiers. Christ knew what he wished to say, 
and how to say what he meant; and I feel myself bound to 



28 THE LAST TIMES. 

understand him to mean just what he says. And what he 
here predicts respecting his coming in the clouds at the close 
of the tribulation no more refers to the coming of the 
Roman armies into Palestine than to the flight of Mahomet, 
or the next eclipse of the moon. He is describing the scenes 
of the judgment-period, and nothing else. 

" And then he shall send his angels with a great sound of a 
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the 
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." 

The elect, in this paragraph, I understand to be the same 
as the multitude which no man can number, described in 
Rev. vii. 9-17; the harvest of the earth described in Rev. 
xiv. 14-16. 

" Now learn a parable of the fig-tree ; when his branch is 
yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is 
nigh : so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know 
that it [the kingdom of Grod] is near, even at the doors. 
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, 

TILL ALL THESE THINGS BE FULFILLED." 

Some have groundlessly supposed that this last remark 
requires the application of this whole prophecy to the times 
of the apostles, and consequently to Jerusalem's destruction. 
They take the word "generation" as meaning those who live 
in the same thirty years; thirty years being reckoned to a 
generation. But if this be the sense, then how shall we 
reconcile the prophecy with facts? Jerusalem was not de- 
stroyed until about forty years after the Savior uttered these 
words. And if he meant that a generation of thirty or even 
thirty-three years should not pass away till all these things 
should be fulfilled, his prediction cannot be verified. It is gra- 
tuitous, however, to insist upon that sense of the word genera- 
tion. The original is ysvea — a race, a class, a family of pro- 
pie; as where it is said, "the children of this world are wiser 
in their generation than the children of light." The plain mean- 



MEANING OF CHRIST'S PROPIIECY. 29 

ing of the Savior is, that the family of Abraham, the Israel- 
itish people, should not pass out of existence, as a distinct 
class or race, before all these predictions should be verified. 
That the word will bear this sense must be admitted. Many 
of our most valuable critics and interpreters so understand it. 
The surroundings also seem to demand that we should here 
take it as meaning the Jewish people as a race. They are this 
fig tree which is to have a long winter of leafless barrenness, 
but which is to bud again when the summer-time of the king- 
dom approaches. And in this sense above all have the 
Savior's words thus far been most exactly and marvellously 
fulfilled, showing the truth of what follows, — 

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall 
not pass away."* 

It is therefore as plain as language can make it, that this 
prophecy of the Savior runs through all time, from its de- 
livery, down to the end of the world that now is. Men may 
try to believe that he spoke only of the fall of Jerusalem and 
the Jewish constitution, but they deceive themselves; they 
distort, depreciate, and wrest the clear meaning of his words ; 
and they bring endless confusion into one of the plainest, most 
literal, and most straightforward prophecies in Grod's. word. 
The discipLs asked him very important questions, and he 
answered them all that they inquired about. They wished to 
know when and how Jerusalem and the temple should be 
brought to desolation, and he told them when and how these 
things should be, tracing down the consequences upon the 
Jewish race to his final coming and kingdom. They wished 
to know what should be the signs and form of his final coming 
in glory and triumph, and he explained to them the whole 
matter with a fullness of detail which constitutes the great 
fund from which his followers ever afterward drew their in- 
formation upon the subject. They wished to know when, and 

* See Note B, page 323. 
2* 



30 THE LAST TIMES. 

amid what circumstances, the end should come; and he an- 
swered them on that point too, as far as it was for them to 
know the facts; teaching them to look and watch for his 
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

In this remarkable discourse, we are accordingly taught, 
and have the doctrine certified to us in a very peculiar and 
unmistakable manner, that our Lord Jesus Christ is to 
come again into our world. It is not only stated in 
various forms of language, but it is made the subject of a whole 
chapter of circumstantial particulars which connect with it, 
and is the central point in a vast field of predictions, many 
of which have already passed into historical facts. And one 
of the prominent reasons, perhaps, why the destruction of 
Jerusalem and the final consummation were embraced in the 
same prophetic view, was, that in looking back, and seeing 
how literally and fully the first part of it has already been 
fulfilled, we might be confidently assured that what remains 
to be fulfilled is just as certain as an unalterable fact of his- 
tory. As part has already become history, so the remaining 
part shall also become. And thus, with a degree of certainty 
which excludes all possibility of mistake, the Savior has as- 
sured his church that he will come again to this disor- 
dered world. It is no mere fancy, — no poet's dream, — no 
mere fabulous device, — but immutable reality, as sure as the 
desolations which have been upon Mount Zion for these 
eighteen hundred years. Though men may think but little 
of it, and put it far away from them, it is one of the infallible 
verities of Almighty God. As the angels at his ascension said, 
so we may be satisfied, that "This same Jesus which is 

TAKEN UP INTO HEAVEN SHALL SO COME, IN LIKE MANNER 

as ye have seen him go into heaven." Henceforward, 
therefore, could his followers say, "The Lord himself 
shall descend FROM heaven," — " Our conversation is in 
heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord 



CERTAINTY OF CHRIST'S COMING. 31 

Testis Christ." "Behold, HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS; and 
ever?/ eye shall SEE him, and they also which pierced him." 
Henceforward could the disciples go forth, " looking for that 
blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great Glod 
our Savior Jesus Christ," and beseech men " by the coming 
of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto 
him/' and exhort their fellow-believers "to wait for his Son 
from heaven," and proclaim the glad "rest, when the Lord 
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels," 
and encourage the fond hopes of the persecuted and despond- 
ing with the assurance that " when he shall appear we shall 
be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 

No, no ; " We have not followed cunningly-devised fables, 
when we made known unto you the poioer and coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." As certainly as the words of Jesus are 
true, as surely as the pillars of the Eternal throne are stead- 
fast, Jesus himself, in glorified humanity, shall return again 
to this very world of ours. All the prophets have predicted 
it. All the pious, from the foundation of the world, have in 
some shape expected it. Jesus declared it, both before his 
death and after his resurrection. And the very last words in 
the holy Testament which he left us are, " He that testifieth 
these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen." Even 
apart from what the Scriptures contain upon the subject, 
with the account of his humiliation before us, reason itself 
might almost anticipate his return. We cannot suppose that 
such a glorious personage will always remain under the re- 
proach and stigma of the cross. Natural justice seems to 
demand that he should come again, in the majesty that apper- 
tains to him, in order to sweep away the infamy which wicked 
men in every age have sought to heap upon him. As He 
whose right it is to reign, will reign ; and as He whose " is 
the kingdom, the power, and the glory," will not forever 
leave his enemies to usurp his place ; so we are driven to ex- 



32 THE LAST TIMES. 

pect him jet to come, " glorious in his apparel, and triumph- 
ing in the greatness of his strength/' 

It must, therefore, be a matter of absorbing interest tc 
every man, how, and when, and with what antecedents and 
results, the Son of man shall come. "This," says Charles 
Beecher, " is the question now in the providence of God first 
claiming the solemn attention of the churches." What can 
be more momentous than the closing up of this whole present 
scene of things — the passing away of the world's present 
fashion and administration ? What revolutions in government 
— what subversions of present social arrangements — what de- 
struction of empires, thrones, principalities, and powers — and 
what shakings of the heavens and of the earth — are involved ! 
What new and strange experiences shall pass over men when 
once the glorious King and Judge of quick and dead shall 
blaze forth his startling presence in the clouds, and summon 
the earth to answer for all its deeds ! And shall we not seek 
to understand the revelation of Grod concerning these amazing 
scenes ? Shall we not awake from our dreams of peace, and 
open our eyes to the startling things that are crowding thick 
around us, and our ears to what God has said about them ? 
Have we not been allegorizing, and spiritualizing, and Jerusa- 
lemizing the prophetic word, until we hardly know where we 
are, or whether there is any thing more to be expected or not? 
Let us, then, rouse up upon this momentous subject. We 
have mighty interests staked upon it. There is more said 
about it in the Scriptures than upon any other single theme. 
And yet Christians now hardly cast a thought forward to the 
mighty occurrences which it involves. We say the prayer, 
" Thy kingdom come I" but so cold and lifeless is the petition 
on our lips, that we scarcely know what we are asking. Jesus 
says, "Behold, I come quickly;" but we fold our arms and 
answer, No, no ; it will yet be a thousand years or more. He 
says " Watch;" but we say, There's no danger that he will come 



NECESSITY FOR PREPARATION. 33 

in our day. The midnight cry is being raised in every region 
and city of Christendom, u Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go 
ye out to meet Mm !" but multitudes deride, and say, It is the 
raving of enthusiasts; it is the. cry of fanaticism; and they 
heed it not. Alas, whose heart now thrills to the startling 
announcement, "The Lord cometh" ? Who looks, and sighs, 
and prays now, for the return of the Savior to our world ? 
Who is waiting for, as he is hastening unto, the coming of the 
day of God ? Who is keeping himself in readiness for its 
solemn revelations ? 

My brethren, if the Son of man should come this week, 
this month, or this year, would he find faith on the earth ? 
Would not the church itself be taken by surprise ? Would 
not such an event now come upon the overwhelming ma- 
jority of Christ's professed followers unawares? And yet, 
what guarantee have we that the chariot- wheels of the com- 
ing King are not already rumbling over the distant worlds ? 
Has he not said, "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son 
of man cometh" ? " the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief 
in the night" ? and "as a snare shall it come upon all them 
that dwell on the face of the whole earth" ? Who can say 
that we are not liable to have the great scenes of the judg- 
ment precipitated upon us at any moment ? And shall we 
not be concerned to have our minds familiarized with what 
may any day occur, and which must occur sooner or later ? Is 
there not something inconceivably dreadful in the thought of 
having that day come upon us at the very time we are saying, 
" My Lord delayeth his coming" ? Would it not be better to 
be a little beforehand with our anticipations, and to bear the 
taunts that may be heaped upon us for our concern, than to 
accommodate ourselves to the wisdom and sobriety of this 
erring world, and be finally taken by surprise and perhaps lose 
our eternal all ? Jesus says, that " the Lord of that servant" 
who shall be found faithless, sleeping, or scoffing, "shall cut 



34 THE LAST TIMES. 

him asunder, and appoint him his portion with hypocrites, 
amid weeping and gnashing of teeth." Of what avail will 
his worldly wisdom and his fruitless profession be to him 
then ? What good will all his knowledge then do him ? 
Better that we had never known the way of righteousness, — 
better that we had never been born, — than amid all our high 
privileges thus to come short of the approbation of the coming 
Judge. 

And if judgment first begin at us, and many professing 
Christians lose the honors of the kingdom, "what shall 
the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ? If the 
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the 
sinner appear?" With what surprise and discomfiture shall 
the day of Christ's coming overtake them ! 

My dear friends, these are solemn thoughts. It will not do 
to trifle with them. Momentous issues are involved. And 
we know not how soon the irrevocable decision shall be made. 
Let us, then, enter upon the study of this mighty subject 
with serious and prayerful hearts, anxious to know what God 
has been pleased to reveal, and earnestly set upon preparing 
to meet our God. And especially let us carefully lay to heart 
those impressive words of the Lord Jesus himself : — 

" Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels 
of heaven, but my Father only. [Luke: Therefore take 
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over- 
charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this 
life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare 
shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole 
earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be 
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to 
pass, and to stand before the Son of man :] [Mark : for ye 
know not when the time is.] But as the days of Noe were, 
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the 
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drink- 



"be ye also ready." 35 

ing, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe 
entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and 
took them all away : so shall also the coming of the Son of 
man be. Then shall two be in the field ; the one shall be 
taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at 
the mill ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch, 
therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord 
doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the 
house had known in what watch the thief would come, he 
would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to 
be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready : for in such 

AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT, THE SON OF MAN COMETH. 

Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord 
hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due 
season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he 
cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he 
shall make him ruler of all his goods." 



EVEN SO COME, LORD JESUS. 

Yet once again thy sign shall be upon the heavens displayed, 
And earth and its inhabitants be terribly afraid; 
For not in weakness clad thou com'st, our woes, our sins to bear, 
But girt with all thy Father's might, his vengeance to declare. 

The terrors of that awful day, oh, who can understand? 

Or who abide when thou in wrath shalt lift thy holy hand ? 

The earth shall quake, the sea shall roar, the sun in heaven grow pale; 

But thou hast sworn, and wilt not change, thy faithful shall not fail. 

Then grant us, Savior, so to pass our time in trembling here, 
That when upon the clouds of heaven thy glory shall appear, 
Uplifting high our joyful heads, in triumph we may rise, 
And enter, with thine vigel train, thy palace in the skies. 

Gr. W. DOAXE. 



SECOOT) DISCOURSE. 



HOW CHRIST S COMING IS BELATED TO OTHER EVENTS — THE MILLEN- 
NIUM — WRONG VIEWS CORRECTED — THE SECOND ADVENT PREMIL- 
LENNIAL — THE POINT ARGUED. 



Luke xviii. 7, 8 : And shall not God avenge his own elect, which 
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? 1 
tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the 
Son of man cometh, shall he Jind faith on the earth. 

"With these words to indicate the general sphere of my 
remarks, I now resume the subject which I introduced to 
your attention a week ago. I have tried to impress upon you 
that it is our duty, privilege, and a source of comforting edifi- 
cation, to study God's gracious revelations concerning " the 
last times/ 7 Some have supposed that prophecy is mainly 
designed for the conviction of those who live when, or after, 
it is fulfilled, and that the investigation of it does not belong 
to those who live before that time. If it were even so, I 
would still insist that we ought to study these things, for the 
evident reason that we are at this very day in the midst of the 
incipient scenes of their fulfillment. And, apart from this 
startling fact, I hold that these revelations are for us, and for 
our learning, as well as for future generations. When once 
they have been fulfilled, redemption will be complete, doubts 
and unbelief will have no more nlace, the saints will be with 
their King in their rest, and no evidences from fulfilled pro- 
phecy will be needed to convince people of the existence and 
providence of God, or of the truth and faithfulness of his 
36 



BUT TWO COMINGS SPOKEN OF IN SCRIPTURE. 37 

word. All this will be plain enough then in each one's heart 
without processes of reasoning upon the past to establish it. 
And if these impressive predictions are not intended for our 
" reproof, correction, and instruction/' I am at a loss to know 
for whom or for what they are intended. 

I have also endeavored to set forth the reality and certainty 
of the Savior's return to this world, by showing you the true 
and solid Scriptural basis upon which this glorious article of 
our faith reposes. Some say Christ comes at death, or when 
he manifests his secret providence by open judgment. Some 
say Christ comes when he manifests his grace in the conver- 
sion of souls, the revival of languid churches, and the victo- 
ries of his truth. But it is very evident that neither of these 
is that coming of the Son of man of which the Scriptures say 
so much, and which is so distinctly embodied in all the creeds. 
Indeed, I very much doubt whether the sacred writers ever 
speak of these providential and spiritual manifestations as 
Christ's coming. I know of but two things to which the 
Bible applies this language : the one is the incarnation, when 
Christ was made man and born of the Virgin Mary; the other 
is his return from heaven in the last times to judge the world 
in righteousness. The New Testament tells of a first coming, 
and a second coming, and no more : the one was accomplished 
when "he came unto his own, and his own received him 
not;" and the other will be, when "he shall appear the 
second time without sin unto salvation." I find in all the 
Bible but these two personal advents of the Savior spoken of, 
the one of which occurred eighteen hundred and fifty years 
ago, and the other is to take place at the end of the present 
dispensation. And all the passages respecting the coming of 
the Son* of man which have not been fulfilled in his first 
coming apply directly and only to his next coming at the 
judgment. 

I proceed now to inquire at what stage in the progress of 

4 



38 THE LAST TIMES. 

the Messiah's earthly kingdom his second advent is to be ex- 
pected. Is it to occur after his kingdom has run its entire 
mundane course, or does the ultimate consummation of his 
kingdom in this world depend upon his final coming ? In 
other words, are we to look for the Savior's future personal 
advent before or after the millennium ? 

The word millennium is compounded from the Latin, and 
literally means a thousand years. Its theological import is 
not very clearly defined. Some use it to denote ooe class of 
ideas, others to denote another class, just as they adopt this or 
that system for interpreting the twentieth chapter of the Re- 
velation. For the most part, however, it is used and under- 
stood to denote a future period of universal righteousness, 
liberty, and peace, during which Satan is to be bound, and 
Christianity be triumphant throughout the world. The ques, 
tion which I propose to consider is, whether Christ is to come 
personally to introduce and establish this glorious condition of 
things, or whether this triumph of all that is good is to be 
realized before he comes ? 

According to the popular belief, the final advent of the 
Savior is a far-distant event, — a mysterious and undefined 
something which is to transpire at some remote point in the 
revolutions of ages, long after the progress of Christian 
knowledge, the developments of science, and the march of 
intellect, have made the world universally pious, just, and 
happy On the platform and in the pulpit, we hear men 
talking rapturously and hopefully of some golden, blessed age, 
which is to be ushered in under the operation of existing 
instrumentalities. By the preaching of the gospel, the work 
of Christian education, and the progress of reform, they ex- 
pect the world to be converted, Antichrist destroyed, Satan 
cast out, and all the relations, occupations, and pursuits of 
men purified, ennobled, and regulated with justice. This is 
the hope which poets sing about, and orators preach about, as 



WRONG VIEWS CORRECTED. 39 

the great incentive to missionary effort, and the reward of 
self-denial, liberality, and prayer in the good work of propa- 
gating the gospel. And when once this glorious era has come, 
and continued through an indefinite period of duration, then, 
somewhere down among uncounted ages, the idea is, that 
Christ will appear in the heavens, join these terrestrial glories 
with glories celestial, and close the scene of grandeur amid 
songs and triumphs that die from us into the fathomless pro- 
found of eternity. 

Now, all this may be very poetical, and answer very well 
to touch off platform speeches. It certainly is very flattering 
to human pride, and very pleasant for the fancy to dwell upon. 
But is it the truth of God ? We are not inquiring now for 
what is captivating, and beautiful, and touching to the natural 
heart, or even to the Christian's imaginings. "We want to 
know what Jehovah saith — what the Spirit of the Lord hath 
revealed concerning these things. And I am free to confess 
to you that my study of the Scriptures has taught me to 
expect a very different course and order of events. My 
Bible tells me of no millennium which existing processes are 
to bring about. Neither does it tell me of a millennium 
which is to precede the Savior's second advent. The only mil- 
lennium I read of in the ■ holy book is that which is to be 
introduced by the glory and power of Christ's coming, and 
the chief excellence of which is, his personal presence and 
reign with his saints upon the' earth. It is not the reign 
of art, science, human culture, or free governments, for which 
the Bible teaches me to look; nor yet for the universal 
triumph of Christianity or the church as we now have it ; nor 
yet for the reign of justice, holiness, or any mere abstract 
principle ; but for the personal reign of Jesus my Lord, when 
"all people, nations, and languages, shall serve him/' and 
shall "come up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord 
of hosts." And that this millennium may come, and this 



40 THE LAST TIMES. 

glorious reign be established, the Savior himself must first 
come, as he promised, and as the angels declared in the day 
that he was taken up into heaven. 

The advent of Christ, then, for which I look, and for which 
I would have all men look, is not apos^-millennial, but a pre- 
millennial coming • not a coming long hence, after an era of 
liberty and perfection such as orators and poets have dreamed 
of, but a coming which is to usher in and begin the promised 
age of gold, and introduce to the world the fruits of a con- 
summated redemption. It is Christ's coming that is to maJce 
the millennium, and not the millennium which is to prepare 
the world for Christ's coming. Upon this point my mind is 
clear, and my faith too firm to be shaken. There is hardly 
another subject in the Bible upon which there is such a mass 
of varied divine testimony as upon this. And if you will be 
at the pains to search out and test the observations which I 
am about to submit, I feel satisfied that you will be obliged, 
either to repudiate the Scriptures, or to make up your minds 
to believe as I do. 

1. I have examined the Scriptures with diligence and care, 
and have had this subject before me as a matter of study for 
more than a half-score of years; and to this moment I have 
not found one passage, and I do not believe that you can find 
one, which, by any legitimate construction, asserts a period of 
rest, triumph, and millennial glory anterior to the great per- 
sonal coming of our blessed Lord. If there be such a passage, 
I will be obliged to any one who will point it out to me. 

2. I find the Scriptures invariably representing the church 
of Christ as afflicted, persecuted, depressed, wronged, and re- 
proached, until relieved by the coming and kingdom of tho 
Savior to judge the world in righteousness. Daniel, in his 
vision, beheld the saints warred with, and prevailed against, 
until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given : 
(vii. 21, 22.) The text distinctly identifies the avenging of 



THE CHURCH TO SUFFER TILL CHRIST COMES. 41 

God's elect with the coming of the Son of man, and shows 
that his people shall be a suffering people until that day of 
avengement comes. And other passages to the same effect are 
numerous and strong. If we look at the laws and conditions 
of discipleship, we read, " All that will live godly in Christ 
Jesus shall suffer persecution." u If any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross." " The 
servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted 
me, they will persecute you." " In the world ye shall have 
tribulation." " "We must through great tribulation enter into 
the kingdom of God." If we look at the accounts of the 
relative strength of the church, we always find it consisting 
of a depressed minority. " Strait is the gate and narrow 
is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find 
it." " Fear not, little flock." " 3Iany are called, but/ez/; are 
chosen." If we look at the promises of the gospel, we find 
them nearly all framed to a condition of suffering, tempta- 
tion, and affliction on the part of those to whom they are ad- 
dressed. " He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall 
be saved." " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of 
the hidden manna." " Think it not strange, concerning the 
fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing 
happened unto you ) but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers 
of Christ's sufferings." "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; 
for great is your reward in heaven ; for so persecuted they the 
prophets which were before you." Are we to be rewarded for 
our toils and labors in the gospel ? It will only be " when 
the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father." Are 
we to inherit the kingdom? It is only "when the Son of 
man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angeis with 
him." Is the church waiting in hope? It is "for the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Did Paul look for "a 
crown of righteousness?" It was only to be given him "at 
that day." It is only when " he shall appear a second time," 



42 THE LAST TIMES. 

that he will appear "unto salvation." Every thing of glad 
hope which the gospel gives us points to the final advent. 
" The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain 
until now: and even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 
waiting for (the resurrection) the redemption of our body." 
There is no promise of rest, no Sabbath-keeping, for the 
dwellers upon earth, until our Joshua comes and gives us the 
glorious land. Every thing remains disjointed, sickly, afflicted, 
until then. And amid all these groans, reproaches, and trou- 
bles which roll and dash upon the church until they break 
against the throne of the returning Redeemer, we look in vain 
for that sunny continent of universal peace and jubilee of 
which men speak. 

3. The Holy Scriptures, so far from promising to us a 
millennium of universal righteousness before Christ comes, 
invariably represent the world as abounding, if not ever grow- 
ing, in wickedness, even up to the very moment of his coming. 
Look at the text. Though in the form of a question, it yet 
contains the strongest kind of asseveration, that the coming 
Judge shall find the world awfully apostate. " When the Son 
of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" "That day 
shall not come except there be a falling away first." Many 
servants shall say, " My Lord delayeth his coming ; and shall 
begin to smite their fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with 
the drunken; and the Lord shall come in a day when they 
look not for him, and cut them asunder, and appoint them 
their portion with hypocrites." "Evil men and seducers 
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 
"The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits 
and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having 
their conscience seared with a hot iron." " This know also, 
that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall 
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, bias- 



SIN Will ABOUND TITiL CHRIST COMES. 48 

phemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, 
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high- 
minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of G-od; having 
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.". " Remem- 
ber ye the words which -w^re spoken before of the apostles of 
our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be 
mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly 
lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having 
not the Spirit." " Knowing this first, that there shall come in 
the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, 
Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell 
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of 
the creation." " The mystery of iniquity doth already work : 
only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the 
way ; and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord 
will consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy 
with the brightness of his coming : even him, whose coming 
is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, 
and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unright- 
eousness in them that perish; because they received not 
the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for 
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they 
should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who be- 
lieved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 
These are dark and awful descriptions, and they stretch down 
from apostolic times to Christ's own personal coming. In the 
Revelation also, under three distinct streams of prediction, — 
seals, trumpets, and vials, — we have a series of successive and 
ever-augmenting defections, revolts, apostasies, and usurpa- 
tions, which are ended only with the tremendous judgments of 
the day of the Savior's personal appearing. Where, then, is 
that glowing period of an versal righteousness, liberty and 



44 THE LAST TIMES. 

peace, which ?ome are looking for previous to our Saviour's 
final coming ? 

4. The Savior's prophetic discourse, which is the fountain 
of all these prophecies concerning the last times and the 
second advent, allows no place for a period of millennial glory 
anterior to the personal arrival of the Son of man. That dis- 
course, running through the twenty-fourth and fifth chapters 
of Matthew, gives us a luminous sketch, by the hand of the 
great Master of Prophets, of the leading aspects of the divine 
administrations from the destruction of Jerusalem to the con- 
summation of all things. The Savior there describes most 
vividly and plainly all the great signs which are to precede, 
attend, and follow his coming in the clouds of heaven' with 
great power and glory. And if it is true that his second advent 
is to be preceded by a thousand years of universal righteous- 
ness and peace, it is impossible to believe that he would have 
entirely omitted all allusion to it in a prophecy so compre- 
hensive, and yet so minute in its details. Such an inter- 
vening millennium would have been a "sign" so notable that 
it could not have been passed by. And yet we search in vain 
through all that wonderful discourse for the smallest hint con- 
cerning it. Nay, he specifically describes a great and unpre- 
cedented tribulation, beginning with the siege and fall of 
Jerusalem, and stretching on " until the times of the Gentiles 
be fulfilled," and tells us that "immediately after the 
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and 
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ; and 
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
the Son of man coming." There can be no millennium of 
peace whilst "tribulation" lasts; but in this account " tribula- 
tion" only ceases at the point when the signs of Christ's 
immediate .advent appear. The only space between the 



PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES. 45 

tribulation and the terrifying signs of the judgment is 
described by the adverb eudsto$ — instantly, immediately, 
quirldy, without the intervention of any other event. To 
make that adverb include a millennium would be to -contradict 
its whole meaning, and to adopt a principle of interpretation 
which would reduce all language to uncertainty. But we must 
do it to have the millennium before Christ comes. Nay more; 
as if forever to cut up by the roots all hope of a period of 
universal righteousness and peace prior to the judgment, the 
Savior adds, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming 
of the Son of man he." What were the characteristics that 
marked the last periods of the antediluvian world ? Was the 
flood preceded by a millennium of righteousness and peace, or 
a millennium of universal apostasy, sensuality, wickedness and 
debasement? Let the word of God answer. "And God saw 
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made 
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. The earth 
also was corrupt before God ; and the earth was filled with 
violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was 
corrupt : for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth/' 
Such is the awful portrait which inspiration gives of those 
early times; and He who cannot lie says, "So shall it be 

ALSO IN THE DAYS OF THE SON OF MAN I" 

5. The Scriptures explicitly teach us that the world shall re- 
main in a mixed condition, in which the good and the bad shall 
grow together and mature side by side until the day of judg- 
ment Upon this point, the parable of the wheat and the tares 
is a perpetual demonstration. Much as men have controverted 
over that parable, no man can separate from its teachings this 
clear and strong prediction, that the wicked shall live and 
flourish as long as this present dispensation endures. Jesus 
himself has so explained and applied it. " The field is the 



4:6 THE LAST TIMES. 

world" In that same field are both wheat and tares, the chil- 
dren of the Kingdom and the children of the wicked one. 
"Both grow together until the harvest." "The harvest is the 
end of the world." And, until that end comes, no man or angel 
can nproot or remove those tares. There they are, growing and 
bearing fruit; and there they will continue to grow and flourish 
until Christ comes with his reapers to wind up this present 
economy. There is no triumphing of the wheat over the 
tares j no monopolizing of the field by the righteous; no 
trampling down, subjugation, conversion or eradication of the 
hosts of the wicked, until then. What could more directly, 
positively and unequivocally prove, that there is to be no 
millennium of universal righteousness, liberty and peace, before 
Christ comes ? In the millennium, the glory of the Lord is to 
"fill all the earth." "All people, nations and languages" 
are then to serve Jesus, "and all dominions shall serve and 
obey him." The knowledge of the Lord is to cover the earth 
as the waters cover the sea. " They shall not teach every man 
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord : for all shall know him from the least to the greatest." 
"Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of Grod the Father." And yet 
this selfsame holy record teaches us that the devil will have 
his children here, and that they shall grow and flourish until 
the day of Christ's coming to judge the world. Is not the 
demonstration complete, that the millennium does not com- 
mence until after Christ comes ? 

6. It is self evident, that there can be no millennium of 
universal righteousness, liberty and peace, whilst the great 
antichristian powers, and the confederations of usurpation and 
wickedness, continue to defile and oppress the world with their 
foul presence and work. How can there be a millennium 
whilst "the mystery of iniquity" lives and operates "after the 
working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying won- 



DURATION AND END OP THE MAN OP SIN. 47 

ders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness" ? How 
can there be a millennium whilst the domineering, blasphemous 
and persecuting power in Daniel, which speaks " great words 
against the Most High," and wears out the people of God, 
continues making war with the saints and prevailing against 
them ? How can there be a millennium whilst corrupt and 
oppressive governments still usurp the prerogatives of God, 
and array themselves against liberty and truth? How can 
there be a millennium whilst nations gather themselves to 
battle, and "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men/' 
continue to make themselves obnoxious to "the wrath of the 
Lamb" ? The thing is impossible. The very idea is prepos- 
terous. And yet I will prove to you that the Scriptures 
explicitly teach that these antichristian and usurping powers 
will live on till Christ comes, and that they shall only be 
destroyed when he shall judge the world. 

Look at what is said, of the duration and end of "the Man 
of sin," in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. The 
apostle tells us that it had already begun to work in his day. 
The paganism of the Roman government for a while stood in 
its way. But the Spirit said, that when this hindrance should 
be removed, "then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the 
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall 
destroy" — when and how ? By the gradual spread of evan- 
gelical religion ? By the present processes of bringing men 
to the knowledge of the truth? No, no, no; "with the 
BRIGHTNESS OP HIS COMING" — (tjji £7tt<paveta zrjq Tzapouaiaq 
aurouy) literally, by the appearing op his own presence. 
Here, then, is positive proof from the word of God, that this 
Man of sin is to continue in existence until Christ's second 
coming, and is to be consumed and utterly destroyed only by 
the personal advent and appearance of the Son of God himself. 
It is useless to tell us that the " coming" here spoken of do- 



48 THE LAST TIMES 

notes a mere figurative or providential interposition of the 
Savior. The whole passage is sternly prosaic and free from 
metaphors, and the words employed are never elsewhere used 
figuratively in the New Testament. Eniyavda is used in five 
other places, and is in each one universally understood as de- 
noting a real appearing, — a personal and visible manifestation. 
Tlapouffia is used in twenty-three other places in the Scriptures, 
and in every one of them denotes a literal presence — a personal 
advent. Both these words as strongly and directly describe a 
real, visible, and personal coming as any in the Greek lan- 
guage j and when used with reference to a person, they cannot 
mean any thing but a real presence and advent of that person. 
" The coining of Stephanus, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus," 
means the personal advent and presence of these men. "The 
coming of Titus" is the personal advent and presence of Titus. 
And so "Christ's own coming" is the advent and presence of 
Christ himself, in his own proper person. And if the words 
"appearance of his presence" or " the, appearing of his own 
advent," do not mean the visible, literal and personal revela- 
tion or manifestation of himself, it is impossible to employ 
terms that can express it, and human language is incapable 
of being interpreted on any fixed and definite principles. 
Wherever else the word em<paveia occurs in the New Testa- 
ment, all men take it as conveying the unmistakable idea of 
a real appearing. Wherever else the word itapooaia occurs 
in the New Testament, there is no disputing the fact that it 
means arrival, presence, advent ; and when applied to persons, 
a personal arrival, presence, or advent. Either of these words 
is held sufficient in other passages to prove a real and personal 
appearing and presence. And when both are united, as in the 
case before us, how is it possible that they should mean any 
thing less than the literal, real and personal arrival and pre- 
sence of Jesus, with reference to whom they are used ? The 
Man of sin, then, is to live on until Christ himself shall come, 



"the little horn." 49 

and shall be destroyed only by the appearing of the Savior's 
own personal advent. And so the most thorough and able inter- 
preters have uniformly taught. Luther says, "They (the Man 
of sin and his rabble) shall be preserved until the coming of 
Christ. Let us therefore pray the Grod and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that he would hasten that day of the glorious 
appearing of his Son, which he has promised, in which he has 
declared that this Wicked one, this Man of sin and son of per- 
dition, shall be destroyed." Archbishop Usher says, "The 
glorious appearing of the Son of God in the latter day shall be 
the overthrow of Antichrist, whence we gather that before the 
last day he shall not be utterly consumed." Robert Fleming 
remarks, " Though the Lord will gradually consume or waste 
this great adversary by the spirit of his mouth, yet he will not 
sooner abolish him than by the appearing of his own presence^ 
as I choose to render and understand the words, Thes! ii. 2-8." 
And Melancthon, Milton, Wesley, Watts, Chalmers, Bonar, 
Elliott, and other men of piety and learning, have expressed 
themselves to the same effect; all showing that there can be 
no millennium of peace and righteousness before Christ comes. 
Look next at what is said concerning the destiny of the 
blasphemous and persecuting power denoted by "the little 
horn" in the visions of Daniel. Whether that presumptuous 
power is the same as Paul's "Man of sin," matters not in this 
connection. Its existence is certainly incompatible with the 
idea of universal righteousness, liberty and peace j and the 
epoch of its end is the epoch of the second advent and the 
judgment. The prophet distinctly states concerning the 
eleventh horn, " even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth 
that spake very great (presumptuous) things, whose look was 
more stout than his fellows; I beheld, and the same horn 
made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until 
the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given 

to the saints of the Most High, when the time came 
D 5 



50 THE LAST TIMES. 

that the saints should possess the kingdom " This language 
is very plain ; but to render it still more unmistakable, an 
angel interprets the vision to the prophet, and further says 
of this little horn, " He shall speak great words against the 
Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, 
and shall presume to alter appointed seasons and the law, and 
they shall be given into his hand until a time, times, and the 
division of time. But the judgment shall sit, when his 
dominion shall be taken away, to be wasted and destroyed" 
(See Wintle's translation.) Let the impious and persecuting 
power of the little horn, then, be what it may, the word of 
God says that it will live on till the Ancient of days comes, 
and the judgment sits, and the suffering saints enter into their 
kingdom. 

Look also at the great ten-horned beast upon which this 
presumptuous little horn grew. Daniel says it was " dreadful 
and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron 
teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and trampled upon 
the remains with its feet." The interpreting angel says that 
this beast is the fourth great kingdom upon the earth, which 
" shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and 
break it in pieces." Surely there can be no universal reign of 
righteousness, liberty and peace, while such a power remains and 
triumphs. And yet its end is particularly given as contempo- 
raneous with the destruction of the little horn, and the second 
advent of the Son of God. The time when its thrones were 
cast down, as beheld in the vision, is the time when " the, 
Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, 
and the hair of his head like the pure wool, his throne the 
fiery flame, and his wheels the ardent fire. A fiery stream 
issued and trailed forth before him, thousand thousands minis- 
tered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand assisted 
before him ; the judment sat, and the books ivere opened." 
It was only then that " the beast was slain, and his body de- 



THE TEN-HORNED BEAST. 51 

stroyed, and given to the burning flame." And that this 
judgment and destruction is to take place in the period of the 
personal coming of the Savior, is also explicitly stated. " I 
saw/' says Daniel, " and behold, one like the Son of man 
came with the clouds of heaven, and there was given him 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations 
and languages, should serve him : his dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed." The prophet here c^- 
dently refers back to a previous vision, and identifies this 
kingdom of the descended Lord with that referred to in the 
second chapter, where it is said, that "in the days of these 
kings" the very powers symbolized by the ten-horned beast, 
" shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall 
never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to 
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume 

ALL THESE KINGDOMS, AND IT SHALL STAND FOREVER." 

Let any man look at these divine revelations with an unbiased 
mind, and he cannot escape the fact that the personal ad- 
vent of Christ, the day of judgment, and the ultimate de- 
struction of these great antichristian powers, are all connected 
together in one and the same great epoch of time, leaving no 
room for the millennium anterior to the Savior's coming. 

If we look to the eleventh chapter of the Revelation, we 
again find the setting up of the reign of Christ over the 
nations, the great day of God's wrath, the time of the judging 
of the dead to give reward to prophets and saints, and the de- 
struction of them that destroy or corrupt the earth, all con- 
nected together in the same period. The one is made syn- 
chronous with the other. And all belong to the epoch of the 
sounding of the last trumpet, when the whole mystery of 
God is to be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the 
prophets. 

So also in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. The ten 



52 THE LAST TIMES. 

horned wild beast, which ascended out of the pit, and whose 
doom is to go into perdition, and " the false prophet that 
wrought miracles before him/' both, with their deceived and 
infatuated followers, are still found alive and vigorous, and 
arrayed against the Lamb and his adherents, up to the very 
time when the heavens open, and the mighty Son of God 
comes forth to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath 
of Almighty God. * 

^ Let men dream, then, as they may, the revelations of God 
are certain and sure. Antichrist shall live till Christ comes. 
Sin, tyranny and usurpation shall continue as long as the 
present dispensation. And persecution and iniquity shall not 
cease until the Son of man cometh to judge the world in 
righteousness. It follows, then, that Christ will come 

BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM. 

7. But let me direct your attention to yet another Scrip- 
tural consideration bearing upon this subject. What I have 
said is enough ; but the point is so momentous as to warrant 
the fullest accumulation of testimonies. It involves many 
matters of transcendent interest to the children of men, and 
we should spare no patience in probing it to its very depths. 
We can gain nothing by the indulgence of false hopes. It is 
the truth alone that shall not fail or disappoint us. Vast 
numbers of people believe that we shall have the millennium 
before Christ comes. In this I consider them mistaken. It 
accordingly becomes me to make a full exhibit of the grounds 
upon which I reject their dreams. I have shown, from the 
Scriptures, that the church is to .remain in a depressed con- 
dition until Christ comes ; that the world is to abound and 
grow in wickedness for the same length of time; that the 
Savior's great prophecy leaves no room for the millennium 
prior to the second advent; that the world is to contain a 
mixed population of good and bad until the great harvest of 
the last day; and that Antichrist and the great oppressing and 



THE SECOND CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 53 

persecuting powers are to be destroyed only by the personal 
intervention of Christ when he shall come the second time. 
And I will yet prove to you, by the same divine authorities, 
that the general conversion of the world to obedience to the 
Son of God, which the idea of the millennium implies, is to 
be effected only when Christ comes. 

There is, perhaps, no passage that is more frequently quoted 
in proof of the final and universal triumph of Christianity 
than the second chapter of Isaiah. God there says, " It shall 
come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's 
house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and 
be exalted above the hills j and all nations shall flow unto it. 
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to 
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, 
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
paths. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and 
his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to 
worship, to the moles and to the bats. The Lord alone shall 
be exalted in that day; and the idols he shall utterly abolish." 
This is a grand and glowing promise ; and, as surely as God 
lives, it will be fulfilled. But when shall these things come 
to pass ? A thousand years before Christ comes ? Not at all. 
It is to be when "he shall judge among the nations;" when 
men shall " enter into the rock and hide in the dust for fear 
of the Lord, ajid for the glory of his majesty" — in " THE 
day of the Lord f when " the loftiness of man shall be 
bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low;" 

"WHEN HE ARISETH TO SHAKE TERRIBLY THE EARTH." 

How strange that men should throw out of this prophecy 
these plain and distinct allusions to the time, which unques- 
tionably identify these glorious achievements with the day of 
judgment and the Savior's own personal manifestation ! Why 
should men seek the caves and clefts of the mountains to hide 
from the Lord and the glory of his majesty, if he is not then 

5* 



54 THE LAST TIMES. 

to be personally revealed? What is u tlie, day of the Lord' 1 
but the day of Christ's appearing for judgment ? What is 
his rising to shake terribly the earth, and to bring the nations 
to account, but the coming of the great King with his re- 
wards with him ? And yet it is distinctly stated, that it is 
only then that the Lord's house is to be supremely exalted, 
and the nations learn war no more. 

People also look and pray for the millennium as a time 
when Christ shall reign the King of nations, as he now reigns 
the King of saints. But the kingdoms of this world are to 
be the kingdoms of Jesus only when he shall really come. 
Daniel says, " I saw in the night visions, and behuld, one like 
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to 
the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him ; 
and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve 
him." Here is a picture of the Savior's investiture with the 
universal sovereignty of the earth • but it is specifically con- 
nected with his coming in the clouds of heaven. John also 
" heard great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, even of Christ ; 
and he shall reign forever and ever." But it was only after 
the last trump had sounded, and the time of wrath, resurrec- 
tion and judgment had come : (Rev. xi. 15-18.) He also 
saw thrones, and the martyrs and saints seated on them, Satan 
bound from deceiving the nations, and Jesus reigning with 
his holy ones ; but it was only after the opening of the hea- 
vens, and the personal advent of Him who had on his vesture 
and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of 
lords : (Rev. xix. 20.) 

In the twenty-second Psalm we read that the son of David 
l < shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall 
bow before him. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; 



SUNDRY BIBLE AUTHORITIES. 55 

all nations snail serve him." But it is only when "He shall 
judge the people with righteousness;" when "He shall come 
DOWN." 

In the second Psalm Jehovah says to his only-begotten, " I 
shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the 
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." But the 
time is also declared to he when "I have set my King upon 
my holy hill of Zion." 

In the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, God says, " It shall 
come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they 
shall come and see my glory." But it is only when " the 
Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a 
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes 
with flames of fire." Zechariah also says, that " The Lord 
shall be King over all the earth." But it is only after " the 
Lord shall GO FORTH, and his feet shall stand upon the 
mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east," — in 
the great "day of the Lord." 

It is also given as one of the glories of the millennium, 
and essential to it, that the Jewish race is then to be entirely 
converted to the Messiah, and made a holy people. Paul says, 
"All Israel shall be saved." The angel that announced the 
Savior's first advent said of him, "He shall be great, and 
shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall 
give unto him the throne of his father David. And HE 
SHALL REIGN OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOREVER." And 

yet it is explicitly stated that this shall be only when he shall 
finally appear again in our world. Jesus says, "Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the 
Gentiles be fulfilled ; and then shall they see the Son of man 
coming in a cloud with power and great glory." " They 
shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I maize up 
my jewels:" (Mai. iii. 17.) When the Lord shall arise and 
have mercy on Zion, says the Psalmist, when the set time to 



56 THE LAST TIMES. 

favor her is corae, " when the Lord shall build up Zion, he 
shall appear in his glory." We read in Micah, " I will 
surely assemble all of thee, Jacob ; I will surely gather the 
remnant of Israel : I will put them together as the sheep of 
Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold." But when 
this is to be done, we read, also, that " their King shall pass 
before them, even the Lord on the head of them." Jerusa- 
lem shall " arise and shine." " The Gentiles shall come to 
"her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising." But it 
is only when " the Redeemer SHALL COME," and " the Lord 
shall arise upon her, and his glory shall be SEEN :" (Isa. lix. 
60.) The Lord says, " I will pour upon the house of David, 
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace 
and supplication;" but, at that same time, " they shall 

LOOK UPON HIM WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED:" (Zech. 
Xii. 11.) 

My brethren, is not this enough ? Where is the founda- 
tion on which men expect a millennium of universal right- 
eousness, liberty and peace, before the personal return of our 
ascended Lord? What do the most noted of scholars and 
saints tell you upon the subject? Hear our own Luther, 
whose name has been " ploughed into the hearts of millions, 
and on the brightest place in the roll of the illustrious dead." 
" Some say," says he, " that before the latter days, the whole 
world shall become Christians. This is a falsehood 
FORGED BY Satan, that he might darken sound doctrine. 
Beware, therefore, of this delusion." So also thought the 
great Melancthon. "The true church," says he, "will always 
suffer persecution from the wicked to the end of time, and in 
the church itself the good and the evil will continue blended 
together." He expected Antichrist to live till the advent 
and resurrection. The intrepid Knox, the champion of the 
Scottish Reformation, says of this world's universal reform, 
"It never ivas, nor yet shall I«, till that righteous King 



OPINIONS OP EMINENT THEOLOGIANS. 57 

AND Judge APPEAR for the restoration of all things." The 
masterly Confession of Augsburg, the foundation-symbol of 
Protestantism, and the acknowledged creed of the largest 
number of the greatest theologians in all the world, " con- 
demns those Jewish notions that, PRIOR TO THE RESURREC- 
TION OF THE DEAD, the pious will engross the government of 
the world, and the wicked he everywhere exterminated." The 
idea of a millennium of universal righteousness, and of the 
triumph of the saints, previous to the second advent, is sternly 
denied a place in that glorious monument to the truth. The 
noble confessors of the Reformation refused to have any fel- 
lowship with it. They condemn it. They stigmatize it as a 
Jewish fable.* 

The author of that great hymn, "The Paradise Lost" th3 
master as well of sacred learning as of song, says, — t 

Truth shall retire 
Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of faith 
Rarely be found; so SHALL the world GO ON, 
To good malignant, to bad men benign, 
Under her own weight groaning, till the day 
Appear, of reparation to the just, 
And vengeance to the wicked, at return 
Of Him — thy Savior and thy Lord. 

Thomas Hall says of the millennium, u lt cannot be before 
the day of judgment, for these reasons: — 

" The last days will be perilous days. Wickedness will the 
most abound towards the end of the world. 

" The church of Christ on earth to ths end of the world, is 
a mixt society, consisting of tares and wheat, good and bad, a 
Gog and Magog to molest the saints to the end. 

"It is a tenet contrary to the judgment of all the church of 
Christ. 

" It makes the ruin of Antichrist to be a thousand years or 
more before the day of judgment, when the Scripture joins 
them together. 



See Notes C and D, pp, C26, 



58 THE LAST TIMES. 

" It makes the church triumphant when Christ comes, con- 
trary to the tenor of the Scripture. " 

Matthew Henry says, " As long as the world stands, there 
will still be in it such a mixture as we now see. We long to 
see all wheat and no tares in God's field ; but it will not be 
till the time of ingathering, till the winnowing -day comes : 
both must grow together until the harvest." " Without 
doubt," says. Cotton Mather, "the kingdoms of this world will 
not become the kingdoms of Grod and of his Christ, before the 
preordained time of the dead, in which the reward shall be 
given to the servants of Grod." "They who expect the rest 
promised for the church of God to be found anywhere but 
in the new earth, or any happy times for the church in 
a world that hath death and sin in it, — THESE DO ERR, 
not knowing the Scriptures, nor the kingdom of God." 
"Christ's church, while in this world/' says Whitefield, "will 
be a bush burning with fiery trials and afflictions of various 
kinds." 

But I have not time to quote one-half of the testimonies I 
have at hand. This, however, I will say, that I have not 
found a respectable or acknowledged creed in all Christendom, 
from the beginning until now, that teaches the doctrine of a 
millennium before Christ's coming. I have not found one 
single passage in all the Bible that sustains the doctrine of a 
millennium before Christ's coming. But, on the other hand, 
I have found a long and unbroken line of witnesses from the 
days of the apostles until now, who testify with one voice, 
that the hope of a millennium of universal righteousness, 
liberty and peace before Christ comes, is a falsehood and a 
dream. I have found many eminent divines, who have blest 
the church and the world with their piety and wisdom, eagerly 
looking for the Savior's advent as the only thing that is to 
lift the church out of its present depression and gloom. And 



THE SAVIOR'S ADVENT WILL BE PREMILLENNIAL. 59 

beyond and above all, I have found the word of God every- 
where pointing to the same great and glorious event as the 
only hope of the pious, and as the great link which alone can 
connect us with or bring us into the jo}^s and jubilations of 
the millennial era. Arrange it as you will, you shall not be 
able to put off the Savior's advent until after the millennium. 
Theorize and speculate as you please, when the Lord cometh 
he will find the world as now, full of vice, unbelief, sensuality 
and guilt. All society shall be chequered, varied, mixed and 
disordered as now, so that "one shall be taken, and the other 
left." We may impose upon ourselves, but God is not 
mocked. We may prefer our vague dreams, and set them up 
against his positive revelations ; but his truth abideth. " He 
hath magnified his word above all his name." He " is not 
slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness ; 
but the day of the Lord cometh." It is not far off, at the 
end of thousands of years hence. It is near. We are " hast- 
ing unto it." Many years ago already it was said, by men 
who spake by inspiration of God, " The coming of the Lord 
draweth nigh." " The end of all things is at hand" And 
Jesus commands all, " Watch, for ye know not what hour the 
Son of man cometh." All through the New Testament the 
coming of the Lord is spoken of as an event- that may occur 
at any day. From this alone, I know that we have no right 
to expect a millennium first. It is useless to tell me that it is 
only a providential, spiritual, figurative coming that is to 
occur before the millennium. Providentially, and spiritually, 
Christ is already here. Wherever two or three are gathered* 
together in his name, there he is. He is now and ever at 
work in his providence, controlling, arranging, overruling, 
moving every thing ; and his Spirit is given to every man to 
profit withal. Figuratively, he comes every day. Every 
meal we take, every breath we draw, every new pulsation of 



60 THE LAST TIMES. 

our life, he brings to us, as it were, by bis own band. And 
if bis coming before tbe millennium includes no higher, no 
more real coming than these things amount to, then I know 
not upon what ground Christians can hope that he ever will 
return in person to our world. The Bible has no terms ex- 
pressive of a literal and real coming, but those which describe 
his premillennial coming. When we read of the coming of 
other persons, we never think of allegory or figure. We take 
the language for what it means. But when we read, in the 
same connections, of Christ's coming — the coming of the Lord 
— the appearing of the Savior's presence — theologians must 
rack their brains to find out some other meaning for the 
words; and that just to obscure that great and animating 
hope of the church, that " the Lord is at hand," and shall 
"surely come quickly." 

Oh, my brethren, let us beware how we torture and explain 
away the sacred words which God in mercy has given us for 
our guidance ! Let us beware how we charge the Holy 
Ghost with saying what he does not mean. That servant who 
" says in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming," the Savior 
calls an " evil servant." 

How is it, then, with you ? Are you looking for, as you 
are approaching, the day of God? Have you made your 
peace with God ? Have you your lamps trimmed, and burn- 
ing, and well supplied with the oil of the grace of God? 
Have you committed yourselves fully into the only Savior's 
hands ? Is he your portion, and the fixed hope of your souls ? 
'Do you believe that it is but "a little while, and he that shall 
come, will come, and will not tarry" ? Or are you saying 
"Peace and safety" whilst unreconciled to God, or a Christian 
only in theory and in name ? There still is hope. The doors 
of salvation still stand open to you. But, alas, how soon may 
the startling summons come to call you to your last account ! 



EXHORTATION TO THE UNPREPARED. 61 

Awake, then, careless one, and call upon your God, if so be 
that He will think upon you, that you perish not. There is 
no remedy and no hope but this. " I beseech you, therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies 
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your 
reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world ; but 
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye 
may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will 
of God." 

ANOTHER ADMONITION. 

Awake ! again the gospel trump is blown : — 
From year to year it swells with louder tone ; 

From year to year the signs of wrath 

Are gathering round the Judge's path ; 
Strange words fulfilled, and mighty works achieved, 
And truth in all the world both hated and believed. 

Even so the world is thronging round to gaze 
On the dread vision of the latter days, 

Constrained to own thee, but in heart 

Prepared to take Barabbas' part : 
" Hosanna" now, to-morrow " Crucify," 
The changeful burden still of their rude, lawless cry. 

Thus bad and good their several warnings give 
Of His approach, whom few may see and live ; 

Faith's ear, with awful, still delight, 

Counts them like minute-bells at night, 
Keeping the heart awake till dawn of morn, 
While to her funeral pile this aged world is borne. 

But what are Heaven's alarms to hearts that cower 
In wilful slumber, deepening every hour, 

That draw their curtains closer round 

The nearer swells the trumpet's sound ? 
Lord, ere our trembling lamps sink down and die, 
Touch us with chastening hand, and make us feel thee nigh. 

John Keble. 



THIED DISCOURSE. 



THE GLORIOUS RESTITUTION BELIEVED IN AND TAUGHT BY THB 

HEATHEN AND JEWS — THIS WORLD NOT TO BE DEPOPULATED OR 

ANNIHILATED — WHAT IS MEANT BY "THE END OF THE WORLD" 

THE LAST CONFLAGRATION THE WHOLE TERRESTRIAL SYSTEM OF 

THINGS TO BE DELIVERED FROM THE CURSE OF SIN. 



Acts iii. 20, 21 : And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was 
preached unto you : whom the heaven must receive, until the times 
of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth 
of all his holy prophets, since the world began. 

This world is a disjointed and dilapidated fabric. The con- 
vulsions of sin have reduced it to a sad predicament. When 
Grod made it, it beamed with good, and was radiant with glory. 
Then man was holy, and every thing was peace. Pure happi- 
ness and harmony reigned universal. There was no sickness, 
no pain, no griefs, no fears, no death. There was nothing foul 
in humanity, and nothing grating or discordant in surrounding 
nature. Heaven shone benignantly on earth, and earth smiled 
gratefully on heaven. Man was in sweet companionship with 
angels, and wore upon his unwrinkled brow the crown of un- 
disputed lordship over all this lower world. It is not so now. 
A dark eclipse has come over this mundane sphere. What 
was once bright in the smiles of its Maker has been blackened 
with the smokes of the pit. The garden which was fitted up 
as the abode of immortality has become a place of thorns, cor- 
ruption and graves. Man disobeyed, and his disobedience 
has brought in all sorts of disorder, suffering and death. The 

soul rebelled against G-od, and, as the result, the flesh has 
62 



PRESENT ASPECT OF THE EARTH. 63 

revolted against the spirit, and the whole external creation has 
been thrown into resentful confusion. Cold, storms, earth- 
quakes, volcanoes, barren fields, pestilential airs, smiting sun- 
shine, tearing briars, and noxious things, combine in the 
terrific accusation against man, and utter the bitter manifesto 
of protestation against his unholy deeds. What was created 
to minister to our joy has become a disorderly servant," as if 
indignant to obey a convict sovereign. Aliens from Grod now 
by very nature, it would seem as if all creation around us 
viewed us with suspicion and abhorrence, and stirred in every 
part to shake us off, and groaned to rid itself of our torment- 
ing presence. All the elements seem to have been jarred 
into discordance with each other, and inspired with a strange 
.antipathy to us. Like Cain in his wanderings, we must now 
walk this fitful earth in continual fear lest we should find our 
death in every thing we meet. Plague is in the food we eat, 
the water we drink, and the air w6 breathe. Death comes in 
at our windows, and creeps through all the crevices of our 
dwellings. And however long or vigorously we may main- 
tain the fight, the end of each one is to fall at last and to rot 
in the sepulchre. 

Such is man, and the system with which he is connected. 
We contemplate the spectacle with sadness. We can find 
much that is lovely, but it is loveliness marred with sore dis- 
tress. We see much that is venerable and majestic, but it is 
in connection with signs of some deep mysterious ailment. 
Groethe says, "When I stand all alone at night in open nature, 
I feel as though it were a spirit, and begged redemption of 
me. Often have I had the sensation as if nature, in wailing 
sadness, entreated something of me, so that not to understand 
what she longed for cut through my very heart." "Even in 
the things of the world of bodies which surrounds us," says 
Schubert, "there is an element of life, a yearning of what is 
bound, which, like that Memnon statue, unconsciously makes 



64 THE LAST TIMES. 

symphony when the ray touches it from above." And as we 
behold afflicted nature oppressed, blighted, disjointed, and 
sending up her deep-toned miserere, we ask, Is there no 
remedy — no relief? Is there not some deferred deliverance 
yet to come ? Is there not some hope — some ray of promise 
to shine upon the gloomy wreck ? We know that there is 
redemption provided for the spirit; is there none for the body? 
And if there is redemption for the body, is there none for the 
general system of which the body forms a part ? Shall the 
sinner be visited with salvation, and that which suffers only 
for the sinner's sake be left without hope of deliverance ? It 
cannot be. God, whose mercies are over all his works, in his 
own good time will bring relief. 

The hope of some future general restitution of earthly 
things has been entertained and taught in all ages of the 
world. We meet with it in all the records of antiquity, both 
Gentile and Jewish. The sibylline oracles are full of it. They 
tell of the coming of one who shall yet fill the earth with 
blessing, raise the sleeping dead, restore all things, subdue all 
enemies, rebuild the city beloved of God, and introduce a time 
of glory when the East and the West shall celebrate the honor 
of God, and no more evils shall come. They point "to " an 
age to come," and a a new birth of nature/' and link the 
glorious Kingdom they predict with an exalted personage 
"from the heavenly heights," who is to " reduce all mankind 
to a single empire/' Plato says, "In the end, lest the world 
should be plunged into an eternal abyss of confusion, God, the 
author of the primitive order, will appear again, and resume 
the reins of empire; then he will change, embellish, and 
restore the whole frame of nature, and put an end to decay of 
age, sickness and death." Plutarch gives it as part of the 
faith of the ancient Persians, that " there will come a time, 
appointed by fate, when Ahriman (the god of evil) shall be 
entirely destroyed and extirpated, the earth change its form 



TRADITIONS OF A COMING RESTITUTION. 65 

and become plain and even, and happy men have one and the 
?ame life, language, and government." According to Strabo, 
the ancient gymnosophists had a similar tradition, and believed 
in a time when "the ancient plenty shall be restored." Vir- 
gil describes the renovation both of the physical and moral 
world. The Chinese philosophers entertained a belief in the 
present corruption and the future renewal of the entire world. 
(See Hort's Sermons.) It is also said that the Karens in Tavoy, 
in Asia, have a tradition " that G-od once dwelt among them, 
and that he has departed to the West, whence he is to return, 
and assuredly reappear;" and that "when God comes, the 
dead trees will bloom again; the tigers and serpents become 
tame; no more distinction exist between rich and poor; and 
universal peace bless the world." Dr. Wolffe relates that he 
heard a dervish of Hindostan express the belief that "the 
world will become so good, that the lamb and the wolf shall 
feed together; and there shall be general peace and fear of 
God upon earth; and there shall be no more controversy about 
religion, no more hatred, and all shall know Grod truly." Origen 
against Celsus says that the heathen authors did believe and 
teach the ultimate renovation of the world. According to 
Burnet, the Scythians, the Celts, the Chaldeans, the Indian 
philosophers, all say that the earth is to undergo a purgation 
and be renewed. And nearly all the heathen authors sang or 
wrote of some great year when all things should again return 
to beauty, order, and blessedness. The same ideas of future 
renewal were also entertained by the Jews. They looked for 
a grand millennial sabbath, in which the world should rest 
from all its tribulations, and holiness and peace be the portion 
of all its inhabitants. Philo gives it as their belief, that the 
earth shall be purified, and appear new again, even as it was 
when it first was made. 

These, my brethren, are significant facts. What has been 

so universally believed, and so deeply ploughed into the 
E 6* 



66 THE LAST TIMES. 

minds and woven with the hopes of the most enlightened 
teachers of mankind, dare not be rashly discarded as a ground- 
less fable. There must be some solid foundation for it some- 
where. As Mede remarks upon another subject, so here, 
" all this smoke of tradition could hardly arise but from some 
fire of truth." And when we consider that many of the tra- 
ditions and prophetic utterances of the heathen world are but 
the echoes and floating relics of God's own primitive revela- 
tions, we may safely refer this wide-spread notion of the earth's 
ultimate restoration and renewal to the same divine source. 
One thing is certain, that the Holy Scriptures do speak of a 
"time of restitution of all things/' and assure us that God 
hath declared the same "by the mouth of all his holy prophets 
since the world began." Christ himself refers to a glorious 
"regeneration" which is yet to pass upon our world. Paul 
tells us of a "redemption" for which "the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth together in pain," when "the creature 
itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption." 
And the Old Testament and the New point us to "new 
heavens and a new earth," which are to be formed by the 
purgation and change of " the heavens and the earth which 
are now." 

This terrestrial system, then, is not an utter wreck — not a 
hopeless ruin. It shall yet be restored. God shall send Jesus 
Christ, even that same Jesus which the apostles preached, and 
under his wonderful administrations, Satan, with all his chil- 
dren and confederates, shall be cast out, and the sons of God 
shall shout over the complete redemption of a world the crea- 
tion of which excited high songs of joy. Some have the 
erroneous notion, that the coming of Christ is to be attended, 
or speedily followed, by the entire destruction and annihilation 
of the earth. Some appear to believe verily that every thing 
in God's material universe is eventually to pass away, and space 
again become a blank such as they suppose it was before crea- 



A COMMON ERROR. 67 

tion began. It is singular what a deep antipathy some evince 
towards all associations of materialism with our immortal des- 
tiny. How fond some have shown themselves of disrobing 
physical nature, and reducing her to smouldering ruins, as if 
she, and not man, were the offender! Indeed, we have all 
heard so much about 

" The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds," 

that we unconsciously set it down among the articles of our 
creed, not considering that there is not a word of t ruth in it. 
It has been so often repeated, that 

" The great globe itself, 
Yea, all that it inherits, shall dissolve, 
And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
Leave not a rack behind !" 

that we are inclined even to contend that it must be so. A 
certain modern poem, among many foolish things, also has the 
following : — 

" Behold now all yon worlds ! 
The space each fills shall be its successor, — 
'Tis earth shall lead destruction; she shall end. 
The stars shall wonder why she comes no more 
On her accustomed orbit, and the sun 
Miss one of his eleven of light; the moon, 
An orphan orb, shall seek for earth for aye 
Through time's untrodden depths and find her not ! 

Her grave is dug ! 
And, one by one, shall all yon wandering worlds 
Cease; and the sun, centre and sire of light, 
Be left in burning solitude. The stars 
shall pass ! 
The world shall perish as a worm 
Upon destruction's path ! The universe 
Evanish like a ghost before the sun, 
Yea, like a doubt before the truth of God !" 

Now, this may be fine poetry, and portray a sweep of fancy 
and power of diction fitting a better use; but it is nothing 



68 THE LAST TIMES. 

but sublime nonsense. There is nothing of the kind to which 
any known laws of nature can lead ; and there is nothing of 
the kind predicted in the word of God , Suppose that Adam, 
instead of sinning, had gone orv peopling the world with holy 
generations, as Jehovah commanded him; would not this earth 
have continued to be the happy home of the race, beautiful 
and "very good" forever? What other opinion will the 
Scriptures permit us to entertain ? Yet Christ is " the 
second Adam," come down into this world for the expressed 
purpose to arrest the current of things which set in with the 
fall of the first : his whole mission and work looking to the 
restoration to the race exactly what the first Adam lost. And 
if the obedience of the first Adam would have exempted the 
earth from all trouble, danger and destruction, we may rest 
assured that the glorious redemption of the second Adam will 
not leave it in a condition less hopeful, secure, or blessed. 

But the Scriptures have not left us to argue this point upon 
mere general principles. They have spoken respecting the 
duration of the fabric of nature, including this earth, in a 
manner which should put the question forever at rest in the 
minds of all believers. Hear what the Psalmist says: — "Let 
the sun, and the moon, and all the stars of light, praise the 
Lord : for he commanded, and they were created. He hath 

ALSO ESTABLISHED THEM FOREVER AND EVER." The same 

inspired singer, in another place, makes these material ortw of 
creation as permanent as the very promises and immutable 
oaths of Deity. He singles them out as the perfect emblems 
of the infallibility of God's covenant of mercy. " Once have 
I sworn," saith the Almighty, " that I will not lie unto David. 
His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before 
me. It shall be established forever as the moon." " One 
generation passeth away," says Solomon, "and another gene- 
ration cometh ; but the earth abideth forever." 
" God laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be 



SCRIPTURAL VIEWS. 69 

removed forever." " God himself that formed the earth, 
and made it, he hath established it; he created it not in 
vain, he formed it to be inhabited" " The righteous shall 
inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." Daniel, in his 
vision of the last things, after the descent of the Son of 
man in the clouds of heaven, saw " the kingdom, and 
dominion, and greatness of the kingdom," not in some other 
world, but " under the whole heaven" which is nowhere 
but upon this very earth, " given to the people of the saints 
of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting king- 
dom." And if these holy and divinely-inspired men knew 
any thing about the subject, and words have any meaning in 
them, I do not see that there is much ground for the ap- 
prehension that this orb, or any other, is likely to fall into 
oblivion. 

Neither does the language of the New Testament on this 
subject differ from what is said about it in the Old. Jesus 
says, " Blessed are the meek, for they SHALL INHERIT the 
earth." But where is the blessedness of inheriting the 
earth, if the earth is to be totally destroyed ? This passage, 
as I take it, points directly to the fact, that the saints are to 
have this world as their final delightful home, when once 
the curse of sin has been rooted out of it. As things now 
are, it is not " the meek," but the proud, aspiring, ambitious 
and rapacious, who succeed to most of this world's possessions. 
And if the earth is not to continue, or is not to be the future 
home of immortality, I am at a loss to find any meaning in 
this saying of the Savior. According to Paul, (Rom. iv. 13,) 
the promise to Abraham, and to all his spiritual seed, is that 
they shall be "heirs of the world." But is it not a poor sort 
of heirship which offers an inheritance that is to be eternally 
annihilated ? Peter gives it as the promise of Grod, and the 
glad hope of the saints, that the earth, notwithstanding the 
fires that are to pass over it, is yet to be the home of right- 



70 THE LAST TIMES. 

eousness, and hence of course also the possession of the right- 
eous. But this cannot be if the earth is to pass away. Ac- 
cording to John, the song of the ransomed spirits now in 
paradise awaiting the completion of God's mysterious plans, 
next to its ascriptions of praise to the Lamb that was slain, 
takes as one of its loftiest and sweetest strains, " We shall 
reign with him on the earth l" What does that mean, 
if it does not contemplate the earth as enduring beyond the 
scenes of judgment, and furnishing the theatre for the sub- 
limest joys and honors of our immortality? And as John 
looked down the pathway of futurity, beyond the day of judg- 
ment, he " saw a new heaven and a new earth," and "the new 
Jerusalem descending" upon it ; and " heard a great voice 
out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he will dwell with them and be their God. And 
he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall 
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall 
there be any more pain : for the former things are passed 
away." 

Now, what is there in all this that looks like " the wreck 
of matter," " the crush of worlds," or the everlasting disap- 
pearance of " the great globe itself!" No, no; creation is 
not to be destroyed. The vast and splendid mechanism of the 
worlds is not to be broken up, and thrown aside, and con- 
signed to oblivion. None of these great products of creative 
power and wisdom shall ever come to naught, or be forgotten. 
The footsteps of the Son of God upon this earth have conse- 
crated it, and made it too sacred ever to be blotted from the 
page of being. And when I think that God hath conde- 
scended to be manifest in material flesh, and, in the person of 
Jesus, did actually unite himself with the dust of earth, and 
wore it on Mm, my contempt for materiality vanishes at once, 
and it seems to me like sacrilege to entertain the idea of this 
world's annihilation. Shall the clay which constituted the 



NO WASTE IN CREATION. 71 

body of the blessed Christ pass over into the devil's hands, or 
go down to everlasting nothingness ? Shall the soil that was 
saturated with the precious blood of his unspotted heart be 
consigned to irrecoverable ruin ? Shall the theatre of his 
great labors, agonies, death and triumphs, disappear, "and 
leave not a rack behind" to mark the orb on which his mighty 
deeds of love were done ? Shall men hold those spots sacred 
on which great patriots and benefactors lived and died, and 
the eternal God blot out the world on which his dear Son 
performed the sorrowful pilgrimage of human life, and accom- 
plished the stupendous work of the redemption of its in- 
habitants ? I do not, I cannot believe it. It goes against all 
my deepest conceptions of Grod and his great purposes of love. 
Aside from all this, it seems to be a settled law of the 
divine operations, always to work out what is to be, from what 
already exists j and to bring in no new creations beyond what 
are absolutely necessary. You remember the miracle at the 
marriage in Cana. Jesus could just as easily have filled the 
waterpots with wine without requiring them first to be filled 
with water. But he preferred to take an existing element, 
and from that to develop the cheering fruits of his marvellous 
power. So in feeding the five thousand in the wilderness, 
he could just as easily have dispensed with the few scanty 
loaves and fishes ; but he chose to take what they had, and to 
make that the basis of his wonderful provision. It would not 
be more difficult for him to create a new race of men upon 
earth than to redeem its present inhabitants; but it seems 
best to him to take the old materials, and out of them to effect 
his great ends of goodness. He is not prodigal in the use of 
his power, or wasteful of his creations. Every little fragment 
must be gathered, " that nothing be lost." He always takes 
the sinner to make a saint, and the dying and corrupt body to 
make an immortal and spiritual one. No matter how humble 
or unpromising the basis may be, so long as there is a basis on 



#2 THE LAST TIMES. 

which to proceed, he invariably adopts it, and works from it, 
in preference to an entirely new creation. I do not know a 
single exception to this rule. I argue then, as he brings " the 
new man" out of "the old Adam," and the glorified body 
out of " the natural body," and the new harvest out of the 
old seed, so he will also assuredly bring the " new heavens 
and new earth" out of the old heavens and old earth, and 
thus make a paradise of God out of this very wilderness of 
our present dwelling-place. My faith is, that these very hills 
and valleys shall yet be made glad with the songs of a finished 
redemption, and this earth yet become the bright, blessed 
and everlasting homestead of men made glorious and immortal 
in body and in soul. 

And why should we start back from such ideas, or wish 
that it were different ? There is nothing essentially corrupt 
or degrading in matter. It did not detract from Adam's good- 
ness or happiness that he stood in connection with a material 
system. It did not render Christ less pure, exalted, or adorable, 
that he took up his abode upon earth, and was manifested in 
the flesh. After all, there is much in this world that is beau- 
tiful, attractive and good. Though it has been much dis- 
figured and disordered by reason of the sins of its inhabit- 
ants, we may still trace upon it the footprints of Deity, and 
behold in it many lingering relics of the smiles of its God. 
" Look," says Cumming, " at the floor on which you tread, 
so exquisitely carpeted with verdure, with fragrance and 
with blossom ; look at the sky that is above you, where worlds 
are'subservient as lamps and lights to ours ; look at the whole 
economy in which you live, the ocean of air you breathe, the 
infinite provisions for your comfort; and why should you 
want this world destroyed ? Go to some of its fair glens, its 
lovely scenes, its bright panoramas, and you will be constrained 
to say, Take away sin, take away corruption, take away head- 
aches, heart-aches, envy, malice, uncharitableness, and all the 



MEANING OF "THE END OF THE WORLD." 73 

evils that sin has given birth to, and I could wish no lovelier 
heaven to dwell in forever and forever." Jesus himself points 
us to the humble lilies of the field, and tells us with emotion 
that "even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
of these \" Just take from earth the curse of sin that has 
marred it; let its pristine beauty be renewed; plant in it the 
throne of the Redeemer's glory; consecrate and sanctify it with 
his holy and perpetual presence ; and fill it with the happi- 
ness, love, peace and righteousness foretold in the Scriptures ; 
and there certainly can be no reason why we should wish any 
better heaven, or ever think of its annihilation. 

But some will be disposed, at this point, to remind me that 
the Scriptures do certainly speak of an ending of the world. 
The disciples asked Jesus what should be the sign of his 
coming, " and of the end of the world." The Savior says " the 
harvest is the end of the world;" that, " as the tares are 
gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of 
the world;" and that he is with his ministering servants 
" always, even unto the end of the world." I had not over- 
looked these expressions ; nor do they present the least em- 
barrassment to the doctrine of the earth's eternal perpetuity. 
The word " world" often has no reference to the material 
earth, much less to the general material universe. When 
Jesus said that the world hated him, and that the world would 
hate his disciples, he certainly did not mean the inanimate 
globe. The word world, you will thus perceive, has different 
significations; and it is used in our English Bibles where 
very different words are used in the original Greek. The 
proper Greek word for the material earth is yyj ; but this word 
is not found in either of the passages which speak )f the 
ending of the world. In two of them the word rendered 
world is acwv, which means a space of time, an age, an era, a 
dispensation. In the other two, the word rendered world is 
xoapioq, which denotes the exterior order, arrangements, in- 



74 THE LAST TIMES 

vestiture and embellishments of the earth. These shall end 
when Christ comes, and give place to something new ; but the 
yy) — the earth itself — has no end assigned it anywhere in all 
God's book of revelation. Ages shall terminate ; dispensa- 
tions shall be consummated and disappear; "the fashion of 
this world passeth away;" and present outward configurations 
of things shall vanish; but the earth shall abide. Already 
we have had at least one ending of the world since man's fall; 
and from that we may form some idea of what the next shall 
be. I refer to Noah's flood. Peter says of it, " By the word 
of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out 
of the water and in the water, whereby the world that 
then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Now, 
what was it that perished ? — the material earth ? Not at all; 
when the flood was over, Noah still found it rolling in its 
accustomed orbit, where it has kept rolling until now, and 
where it will continue to roll forever and ever. Peter says it 
was the xooyxo? that perished ; that is, that outward order and 
constitution of things which existed in antediluvian times. 
There was no extinction of our globe, no missing of our 
planet from among the heavenly constellations; and yet in- 
spiration says, " the world that then was perished." May 
there not, then, be another ending or perishing of the world, 
without bringing oblivion upon the material orb on which we 
dwell ? Nay, the Holy Scriptures authorize the remark, that 
a the end of the world" which is yet to come shall not be so 
destructive to the earth as the flood of Noah was. When 
Noah came out of the ark, "The Lord said, I will not again 
curse the ground any more for man's sake, neither WILL I 
again smite any more every living thing, as I HAVE 
done :" (Gen. viii. 21.) These are not human conjectures, 
but the words of the immutable covenant of Almighty God. 
And, as the perishing of " the world that then was" was not 
an annihilation or destruction of the globe itself, so neither 



THE JUDGMENT-FIRES. 75 

will the ending of the world which now is any more damage 
or affect the existence of this planet. 

But Peter says, " The heavens and the earth, which are 
now, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of 
judgment and perdition of ungodly men;" that "the day of 
the Lord will come, in the which the heavens shall pass away 
with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat ; the earth also and all that is therein shall be burned 
up ;" that " the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and 
the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Does not this 
teach the utter ruin and extinction of material things ? Cer- 
tainly not. The word translated new is often taken in the 
sense of renewed, made new, restored to original splendor, 
and cannot here mean another heaven and earth, but 
simply the present ones renewed. The whole passage 
taken together, then, is nothing more nor less than the 
assertion of a regeneration of the material world by fire, 
analogous to the regeneration of the natural man by 
the Holy Grhost. And as there is no extinction of 
existence, and no alteration in the essential constituents of 
the being, in the one case, so neither shall there be in the 
other. The earth shall not pass away. It shall live on — sur- 
vive its baptism of fire — exist through the mysterious regene- 
ration — and come forth, minus its curse, to flourish with all 
its sister orbs forever in its Maker's smiles. Fire cannot 
reduce matter to nothing. It may alter the modes and quali- 
ties of it ; but it cannot destroy its substance. And when we 
come to examine what Peter says these last fires are for, it is 
plain that they shall not be such as to depopulate or make an 
utter end of this planet. Men of science tell us, that the 
deeper we penetrate towards the centre of the earth, the 
warmer do we find the temperature; and that, if we could 
carry our investigations deep enough, we would find the inte- 
rior of the earth "one rolling, restless flood, like the burning 



76 THE LAST TIMES. 

lava that pours from Vesuvius, finding its occasional safety- 
valve in the volcano." It is evidently to this fact that the 
apostle speaks, when he says, (as some translate his words,) 
" the present atmosphere and earth are stored with fire, re- 
served unto the day of judgment, EVEN the perdition OP 
eminently wicked men." The last fires, then, are those 
which already exist, but which are imprisoned by the great 
Creator's word until the day of judgment, when they are to be 
let loose, not for the annihilation of the world, but for the 
destruction of the openly apostate, and the persecuting ene- 
mies of Christ and his kingdom. The scene which the apostle 
declares is not universal, but particular and local, and not 
greatly different from volcanic phenomena which have often 
been witnessed. Read the descriptions given of some of these 
terrific eruptions. Dana says of one which occurred at the 
great volcano Kilauea, Hawaii, " The stream (of fire) plunged 
into the sea with loud detonations, (with a great noise) The 
burning lava, on meeting the waters, was shivered like melted 
glass into millions of particles, which were thrown up in 
clouds that darkened the sky, and fell like a storm of hail over 
the surrounding country. Vast columns of steam and vapors 
rolled off before the wind, whirling in ceaseless agitation; and 
the reflected glare of the lavas formed a fiery firmament over- 
head." Kinney says, " The intense heat of the fountain and 
stream of lava caused an influx of cool air from every quarter. 
This created terrific whirlwinds, which constantly stalked 
about, like so many sentinels, bidding defiance to the daring 
visitor. These were the most dangerous of any thing about 
the volcano. Clouds approaching were driven back, and set 
moving in wild confusion." Now, bring distinctly before your 
minds this terrific scene, the sky filled with flames, the loud 
roar and crash, the fused elements pouring forth from the 
earth, the disordered rush of winds and the dreadful danger 
of coming near, and then take up the literal words of Peter, 



LAST FIRES EXPLAINED IX OTHER PROrHECIES. 77 

and you will see that it is altogether a similar scene which he 
describes. The day of judgment is to unchain the impris- 
oned fires ; and then the atmosphere will pass with a rushing 
noise; and the elements being kindled will melt; and the 
3arth and the works on it will be burned. "As then all these 
are (to be) loosed, what manner of persons ought ye to be in 
holy deportment and piety, looking for and earnestly awaiting 
the coming of the day of God, in which the aerial regions 
shall be let loose, (to rush in fiery whirlwinds,) and the ele- 
ments being fired shall melt." The picture is exceedingly 
awful, and, when realized, shall be dreadfully destructive to 
those upon whom God's vengeance shall thus fall ; but what 
it portrays is evidently volcanic, and confined to particular 
regions. Hence, says David N. Lord, after a very thorough, 
critical and satisfactory examination of the whole passage, 
" The notion of the conflagration and dissolution of the hea- 
vens and earth at Christ's coming, is icithout any ground 
whatever in the apostle's words, and springs wholly from 
attaching to them a meaning which they do not involve. The 
fires by which the impious are then to be destroyed are to be 
but local and temporary, and are to offer, there is reason to 
believe, no more obstacle to the safety of the population of the 
globe at large than the volcanoes have that have already raged 
in the depths of the earth and ejected their burning elements 
into the atmosphere." And I cannot see how any man can 
take God's words to Noah, promising never again to smite 
every living thing, and yet believe that the last fires of which 
Peter speaks are to be the agents of a complete and universal 
destruction. 

It is an inspired maxim, my brethren, that "no prophecy 
of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." We dare 
not take what one prophet says separate and apart from what 
another prophet says. We must take all together, contemplate 
the whole in the parts and the parts in the whole, and explain 

r* 



78 THE LAST TIMES. 

what is presented in one place by what is contained in an- 
other. The conflagration in the day of the Lord of which 
Peter speaks is the same as the fires of which other prophets 
have spoken in the same connection. But we search the 
Scriptures in vain for any corresponding prediction which de- 
scribes a universal burning up of all earthly things. We read 
that " the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his 
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them 
that know not G-od and obey not the gospel/' We read that 
" the beast and the false prophet/' when the King of kings 
appears, shall be " cast alive into a lake of fire." We read 
that " the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, and sit as 
a refiner and purifier of silver ;" that " the day cometh that 
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do 
wickedly, shall be stubble : and the day that cometh shall 
burn them up/' that "our Grod shall come, and shall not keep 
silence : a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very 
tempestuous round about him;" and that "a fiery stream 
shall issue and trail forth before him, and the beast be slain 
and given to the burning flame." But we find nothing to 
warrant the idea of a universal conflagration, much less such 
a burning as shall depopulate and annihilate the earth. On 
the other hand, it is explicitly stated in connection with these 
descriptions of the last fires, that the eminently and noto- 
riously wicked alone are to be visited by them. Archbishop 
Usher says, they will take away "only the gross hypocrites 
and formal professors." Of other classes it is said, "But 
unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness 
arise with healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and 
grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the 
wicked ; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in 
the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Upon Grog 
and his hosts God will pour " great hailstones, fire and brim- 
stone." He "will send a fire on Magog, and among them 



THE GLOBE NOT TO BE DESTROYED. 79 

that dwell confidently/ ' But in the same connection we read 
of others who live on unharmed by all these avenging fires, 
whilst "the great globe itself'' continues steadfast in its 
place. 

Now, taking all these things together, I regard it as settled 
and certain, that Peter never meant to teach the utter depopu- 
lation and destruction of this planet. He tells us, in harmony 
with other prophets, that there shall be dreadful fires in the 
day of judgment. He tells us of the present existence of 
those fires, and whence they shall proceed. He tells us their 
object: — " the perdition of ungodly men." He also describes 
something of the terrific phenomena which shall attend them. 
And he exhorts us, in view of those awful revelations, to be 
devout and upright. But I do not find any thing in his lan- 
guage to contradict the declaration of the wise man that "the 
earth abidcth forever." There is immortality in the clods 
and rocks, as well as in the immaterial mind. There is some- 
thing undying in the ground we tread beneath our feet, as 
well as in the soul with which we climb to the dwelling-place 
of God. There is no grave dug for the material world, any 
more than for the deathless spirit. And as there is redemp- 
tion for man, so there is redemption for his smitten and dilapi- 
dated dwelling-place. 

I know that the effects of human apostasy from God are 
very deep and far-reaching ; perhaps much more so than we 
sometimes think. The whole earth has been involved in it. 
" The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain" in con- 
sequence of it. But with the deep depths of the distress 
which has been struck into all the pulsations of sublunary 
nature by reason of man's iniquities, the Scriptures do furnish 
the sublime hope that it shall all be again extracted. There 
is a time of restitution coming. There is a day of deliver- 
ance at hand. That universal wail, which has been going up 
for the past six thousand years, shall yet be hushed and lost 



80 THE LAST TIMES. 

amid strains of Jialleluia that shall never end. Luther says, 
" It is important for us to recur to Adam's original condition, 
as we expect all things to be brought back again to that." 
"All things are now disordered and decayed; whence Peter 
says that the heavens must receive Christ until the time when 
all things shall be restored again to what they were in Para- 
dise; thus agreeing with Paul, that the whole creatureship 
has been made subject to vanity, and that it is to be hoped 
that not man only, but the earth and heaven, shall again be 
brought back to their Edenic state." Calvin says, " I expect 
with Paul a reparation of all the evils caused by sin, for which 
he represents the creatures as groaning and travailing." 
Charnock says, "As the world, for the sin of man, lost its 
first dignity, and was cursed after the fall, and the beauty 
bestowed upon it by the creation defaced, so shall it recover 
that ancient glory, when he shall be fully restored, by the 
resurrection, to that dignity he lost by his first sin. As man 
shall be freed from his corruptibility, to receive that glory 
which is prepared for him, so shall the creatures be freed from 
that imperfection and those stains and spots on the face of 
them, to receive a new glory suited to their nature, and an- 
swerable to the design of God, when the glorious liberty of 
the saints shall be accomplished." But let us hear what Grod 
himself has said. " In that day shall there be upon the bells 
of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord ; and the pots in 
the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar." 
" He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong na- 
tions afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough- 
shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not 
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and 
under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid." 
"And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall 
overflow with wine and oil." " The waters of the dead sea 



THE EARTH TO BE RENEWED. 81 

shall be healed by the waters which flow out of the temple ; 
and by the stream of this water shall grow all manner of 
trees, whose leaves shall not wither, and whose fruit shall not 
decay; they shall yield their fruit monthly, and the leaves 
thereof shall be for the healing of the nations." " The crea- 
ture itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
into the glorious liberty of the children of God." " The 
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie 
down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the 
fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow 
and the bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall 
lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. 
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and 
the weaned child upon the cockatrice's den. They shall not 
'vurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." 
u Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the 
sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the light of seven 
days, in the day that the Lord shall bind up the breach of his 
people and heal the stroke of their wound." "Then the 
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf 
shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, 
and the tongue of the dumb sing ; for in the wilderness shall 
waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched 
ground shall become a watered place, and the thirsty land 
springs of water ; in the habitation of dragons there shall be 
grass with reeds and rushes." " Instead of the thorn shall 
come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up 
the myrtle-tree." "And the inhabitant shall not say, lam 
sick." "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 
nor crying ; neither shall there be any more pain : for the 
former things are passed away." 

These are glad and glorious descriptions; and they are 
given by the Spirit of God. Whatever meaning people have 
attached to them, all agree that they set forth a condition c£ 
F 



82 THE LAST TIMES. 

things which is yet to be realized upon this earth. Some say 
we mi*st take them literally; others interpret them figura- 
tively; and others understand them spiritually. But, no mat- 
ter how we take them, one thing is settled and incontroverti- 
ble, that they include a physical as well as a moral redemption. 
They describe the lifting off of the curse from all creation 
around us, as well as from the souls within us. They exhibit 
suffering and disordered nature once more free, harmonious, 
congenial, restored, and forever at rest. They portray vast 
and happy changes in things spiritual and things physical, 
animate and inanimate, human, animal, vegetable and ele- 
mental. They show us the earth with its deserts fertilized, its 
elements harmonized, its inhabitants made congenial to each 
other, its products rendered abundant and sanatory, and its 
possessors invested with perfect happiness and immortality. ■ 
Some have looked for their fulfillment in a fancied millennium 
previous to the Savior's coming. They would have us believe 
that these sublime predictions relate only to the universal 
triumph of political freedom, general wisdom, and exalted 
piety. But how will the mere reign of righteousness and 
love in the hearts and conduct of mankind extend redemption 
into the physical world, or work a deliverance to the animal 
and other kingdoms ? Knowledge, holiness and liberty com- 
bined, and spread over the earth from one end thereof to the 
other, cannot save a man from bodily aches, decay and death. 
They cannot take the taint from the atmosphere, nor the ma- 
laria from the earth. They cannot cover Sahara with fertility, 
nor hush the storm and tempest, nor close the volcano's 
crater, nor stop the Maelstrom's whirl, nor stay the earth- 
quake's giant tread, nor relieve the creature of its groans. 
Make every meal a sacrament, and every day a Sabbath, and 
every thought a prayer to God ; and all that, of itself, cannot 
take away the curse with which God has cursed " the ground" 
for man's sake, nor relieve these dying bodies from their 



TIME AND MANNER OF THIS GREAT CHANGE. 88 

many ills. The case calls for greater changes in earth, air 
and sea, and in the whole present constitution of terrestrial 
things, than can by any possibility result from existing pro- 
cesses, or from mere natural developments. We must have 
special electric influences to quiet the atmosphere and adapt 
it better to the wants of humanity. We must have vol- 
canic or some other action in and upon the earth, to change 
some of its surface, consume its impurities, and renew its 
wastes. We must have a complete revolution in the pre- 
sent order of things. In a word, we must have another 
putting forth of divine power upon this world. It must be 
retouched by the hand that made it. It must come under a 
renewing potency which can raise the dead. And all this 
shall be only when the Son of God shall again come from the 
heavens. 

Accordingly, we read, that when the times of restitution 
come, "God shall send Jesus Christ." "And then shall they 
see the Son of man coming with power." And "he shall 
call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may 
judge his people." " He shall have dominion also from sea 
to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." " He 
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his 
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity," 
and "destroy them that corrupt the earth." "He shall go 
forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of 
war ; he shall cry, yea, roar ; he shall do mighty things against 
his enemies." " The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and 
utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the 
earth shall shake." "They that are in their graves shall 
hear his voice, and come forth." " Them also that sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with him." " He shall change our vile 
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, 
according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all 
things unto himself." " Then shall be brought to pass the 



84 THE LAST TIMES. 

saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 
" And there shall be no more curse." "And it shall come to 
pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new 
wine, and the hills shall flow with milk." " The ploughman 
shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that 
soweth the seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, 
and all the hills shall melt." " Then shall all the trees of the 
wood rejoice before the Lord ; for he cometh, for he cometh 
to judge the earth ; he shall judge the world with righteous- 
ness, and the people with his truth." "In his day there shall 
be abundance of peace." "The government shall be upon 
his shoulder; and of the increase of his government and 
peace there shall be no end." " He shall come down like 
rain upon the mown grass : as showers that water the earth. 
In his days shall the righteous flourish." " He will make a 
covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the 
fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground." 
" His name shall endure forever. All nations shall call him 
blessed, the Lord God who only doeth wondrous things. And 
the whole earth shall be filled with his glory; Amen, and 
Amen." 

Thus, then, will He that sits upon the throne "make all 
things new." "There will be wonders in heaven above, and 
signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and pillars of 
smoke." But out of trouble shall come joy, out of darkness 
shall go forth light ; and in place of groans and tears and 
death shall be songs of joy and glorious immortality. 

" The age of crime and suffering yet shall end ; 
The reign of righteousness from heaven descend ; 
Vengeance forever sheath the afflicting sword; 
Death he destroyed, and Paradise restored; 
Man, rising from the ruins of his fall, 
Be one with God, and God be all in all." 



THIS HOPE NO FABLE. 85 

u Write," says the Son of God, "for these words are true 
and faithful" It is not a poetic dream, but a divine revela- 
tion. God hath spoken it by the mouth of all his holy pro- 
phets since the world began. It was the hope of Adam as he 
went forth an exile from Eden. It was the light that illu- 
mined the tents of the pilgrims of old with a sweeter halo 
than the recollections of Paradise. It was the stay of faithful 
Abraham as he sojourned in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, 
the heirs with him of the same promise. It shone in the 
serene imagination of Isaac, and supported the dying head of 
Jacob, and caused Joseph to turn away from Egypt's mauso- 
leums and ask that his bones might be carried up to the land 
of the redeemed. It shortened the centuries in which the 
Lord's chosen toiled in servitude, and cheered the house of 
affliction with songs. It kindled glad expectations amid the 
darkness of Gentile apostasy, and taught even the heathen to 
prophesy of deliverance. It fired the hearts and tongues of 
all Judah's minstrels, as they swept from the harps of in- 
spiration those lofty anthems which filled the home of the 
Shekinah with praise. And thousands upon, thousands have 
not counted their lives dear unto them for the excellency of 
this hope, and were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that 
they might obtain the better resurrection. Even irrational 
nature seems to be filled with the promise, and until now 
is earnestly expecting and waiting for " the manifestation of 
the sons of God," and the redemption which shall be ef- 
fected when death shall be no more. It cannot, therefore, 
be a fable. A lie could not be so deeply graven. What has 
been so fondly believed, so long looked for, and so earnestly 
desired — what has . been the hope of the good in every age, 
the theme of their songs, and. the joy of their hearts — what 
has ever been pointed to as the solution of earth's enigma 
and Jehovah's great vindication — certainly cannot be a 

8 



86 THE LAST TIMES. 

falsehood. No, no, no; it cannot be delusion. Creation's 
loosened strings shall again be screwed up to their primeval 
tone and concord, to accompany the songs of God's saints 
with immortal harmonies. 

" The barren wastes shall rise, 
With sudden greens and fruits arrayed, — 
A blooming paradise. 

" True holiness shall strike its root 
In each regenerate heart ; 
Shall, in a growth divine, arise, 
And heavenly fruits impart. 

" Peace, with her olives crowned, shall stretoh 
Her wings from shore to shore; 
No trump shall rouse the rage of war, 
Nor murderous cannon roar. 

"Lord, for those days we wait: those days 
Are in thy word foretold ; — 
Fly swifter, sun and stars, and bring 
This promised age of gold !" 

" Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, 
be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without 
spot, and blameless.' ' It would be a sad thing, if, after all 
these sublime arrangements of our Maker, we should eventu- 
ally come short of the inheritance. Let me, then, exhort you 
to " give all diligence to make your calling and election sure." 
If you are prayerless, I beseech you to go and call upon God. 
If you have been thoughtless and careless, I entreat you to 
consider, and lay these great matters to heart. If you are a 
sinner, repent, repent now. And from this hour let each one 
who hears these remarks set out in full earnest to prepare to 
meet God. Soon your day of grace will be over. Soon youi 
opportunities of becoming participants in the glad scenes of a 



DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD. 87 

restored creation will be at an end. " The eud of all things 
is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 
And above all have fervent charity among yourselves, for 
charity shall cover the multitude of sins. If any man 
speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man 
minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth : 
that God in all things may be glorified." 



WAITING FOR THAT DAY. 

Waiting we stand, 
And watching till our Savior shall appear, 
Joyful to cry, as eastern skies grow clear, 
" The Lord's at hand !" 

But now the night 
Presses around us, sullenly and chill ; 
Pain, doubt, and sorrow seem to have their will : — 

Lord, send the light ! 

One after one, 
Thou hast called up our loved ones from our sight ; 
For them we know that there is no more night, 

But we are lone. 

Weary we wait, 
Lifting our heavy eyes, bedimmed with tears, 
To skies where yet no trace of dawn appears : — 

Lord, it is late ! 

But yet thy Word 
Saith, with sweet prophecy that cannot fail, 
That light o'er darkness shall at length prevail:— 

We trust thee, Lord ! 

Morning Star 
Of heavenly promise! light our darkened way, 
Till the first beams of the expected day 

Shine from afar. 

So will we take 
Fresh hope and courage to our fainting heart*, 
And patient wait, though every joy departs, 
" Till the day break." 



FOUKTH DISCOUBSE. 



'HE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION — ERRONEOUS INTERPRETATIONS 
OF THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER OF THE REVELATION REFUTED — THE 
FIRST RESURRECTION — WHAT THE ANCIENT JEWS TAUGHT UPON THE 

SUBJECT CITATIONS FROM THE OLD PROPHETS — HOW THE MATTER 

IS PRESENTED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THE SUBLIME HOPES 

INVOLVED. 



Rev. xx. 4-6: And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for 
the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not 
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his 
mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands ; and they h'ved and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead 
lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is 
the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
first resurrection. 

That the dead shall rise again, is the universal belief of 
Christians. As no historic fact was ever more invincibly 
established than the resurrection of our Divine Redeemer, so 
no article of our faith is more clear and indisputable than the 
doctrine of our rising again like him at our appointed time. 
It is hardly worth while, in this connection, to accumulate 
proofs and authorities to support what is so generally admitted 
and believed, and so clearly announced in the Holy Scriptures. 

Certainly, no one will deny that the raising of the dead lies 
entirely within the reach of Divine power. No one will say 
that it is a thing impossible to Omnipotence. It involves no 
contradiction. It is prohibited by no foregone law or necessity. 
It is not rendered impossible by incapacity in the decomposed 






•" THE RESURRECTION PROVED BY ANALOGY. 89 

bodies of the departed for reorganization. God knows each 
atom, and where it rests. Our substance was not hid from 
him when we were made in secret. His eye saw it yet being 
imperfect. All our members were written in his book when 
yet there was none of them. He has his number for every 
hair upon each head. Wherever the particles of these dis- 
solving bodies may be scattered or lodged, they lie completely 
within his knowledge and power. And He who could at the 
first so attemper the vulgar dust as to constitute a man can also 
again recover these attempered particles and restore them to 
their places. If he can bring a new and glorious ear out of 
the rotting seed, he can also bring a spiritual body out of the 
corruptible one. 

And as the resurrection of the dead is not a thing impos- 
sible, so it is not a thing improbable. Faint analogies of it 
may be traced in the ordinary changes and revolutions beheld 
in nature around us. Clement, the contemporary and friend 
of St. Paul, says, " The Lord does continually show us that 
there shall be a future resurrection. Day and night manifest 
it. The seed sown in the earth displays it." The day fades 
and dies. It is buried in sleep, silence and darkness. In the 
morning it revives, opens its grave of gloom, and rises from 
"the dead of night." The summer dies, and lies down in its 
wintry grave. The winds of heaven sigh and weep over it as 
if they would not be comforted. In the spring, life begins to 
work again in the buried roots and seeds; the plants and 
flowers burst out of their dark cerements ; and every thing 
arrays itself in newness and glory. The sower goes forth and 
casts his seed upon the earth. It falls down dry and naked, 
and in time dissolves. But the great power of the providence 
of the Lord raises it again from that dissolution ; and from the 
old seed new germs arise, and bring forth fruit. The cater- 
pillar builds himself a tomb, and then lies down in it and dies. 
But out 9f the grave of the uglj worm comes forth the but- 

9* 



90 THE LAST TIMES. 

terfly which sallies forth in the sunshine like a living flower. 
And so there are many things in nature that are repaired by 
corrupting, preserved by perishiDg, and revived by dying. 
And as we behold man, the lord of these things, dying like 
them, it is but a fair presumption that he will revive again 
hereafter as we see them revive. 

But God has- not left us in the school of nature, nor given 
us over to settle our persuasions upon mere likelihoods. In 
the glorious record of his word, he has put the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the dead beyond dispute. Distinct glimmer- 
ings of it may be found all through the Old Testament; and 
it is predicted in the New in language which no one can mis- 
understand. Paul says there were many saints before his day 
who "were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they 
might obtain a better resurrection." He says that the Jews 
allowed "that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both 
of the just and unjust." The heroic Maccabees hoped for 
it. The sisters of Lazarus consoled themselves by thinking 
of it as they lingered at their only brother's grave. Christ 
explicitly pointed to a coming period, when " they that are in 
their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and come 
forth." The great Apostle to the G-entiles argued it as a thing 
demonstrated by the resurrection of the crucified Savior. It 
was the great consolation of the noble army of the martyrs. 
And in every age of Christianity it has been cherished as the 
glad hope by which the believer triumphs over the gloom of 
corporeal dissolution. 

Grod has also added a seal to this doctrine which cannot be 
counterfeited. He has actually restored deceased persons to 
life again. When Elijah prayed for the resuscitation of the 
dead child of the widow of Sarepta, Grod heard him, "and 
the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." 
Elisha, in his lifetime, received power to raise the young Shu- 
nemite; and the mere touch of his bones caused a dead man 



NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION. 91 

to revive and stand upon his feet. When the daughter of 
Jairus died, Jesus "said unto her, Tabitlia, cumi, and her 
spirit came again, and straightway the damsel arose." When 
he came "nigh to the gate of a city called Nain, there was a 
dead man carried out; and he came near and touched the bier, 
and said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and he that was 
dead sat up, and began to speak." And not only in the 
chamber and in the street, from the bed and from the bier, 
did Christ call the dead to life. His voice was heard with 
equal effect even in the putrid grave. When Lazarus had 
been "dead four days," and so long buried that his sisters 
said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh," Jesus "cried with a 
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead" and 
putrid obeyed and lived again. And the blessed Savior him- 
self, after being "crucified, dead and buried," took to himself 
the might of his superior nature, and came forth from the 
sepulchre, and showed himself to hundreds with many notable 
signs. In these cases the problem has been solved, and the 
fact demonstrated forever, that there is such a thing as the 
resurrection of the dead. Though we may not be able to 
comprehend the processes by which it shall be effected, we 
may rest assured that it is no idle dream, no cunningly-devised 
fable, but a sublime and stupendous reality. 

How far the resurrection-body is to be identical with the 
body which dies and wastes in the grave has not been 
revealed. It is enough for us to know that we shall rise from 
the dead, without being able to understand the philosophy of 
it. Doubtless we will leave much gross matter behind us in 
the grave. Not all those identical particles which, by that 
time, may be wrought over and over in nature's vast laboratory 
to supply still other bodies, will need to be recovered and re- 
placed in order to bring about the resurrection. " That which 
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare 
grain; but Grod giveth it a body as it hath pleased him. So 



92 THE LAST TIMES. 

is also >ke resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, 
it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is. raised 
in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is 
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a 
natural body, and there is a spiritual body." And yet, in the 
mysterious transition from the one to the other, identity is 
preserved. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and 
this mortal must put on immortality." Otherwise the whole 
idea of resurrection vanishes. " We believe in the resurrec- 
tion of the body?' and, if it is not in some way the raising of 
the body that dies and is buried, the whole doctrine amounts 
to naught. The thing is so mysterious, and so far removed 
from our present experiences, that it is impossible for us to 
understand it fully; but this we must adhere to, that the 
transition from corruption to incorruption, and from mortal to 
immortality, is somehow accomplished in the same body. 
Identity does not necessarily imply the continuation of all and 
precisely the same parts. We may be corporeally identified as 
the same men ten years hence that we are now; and yet, 
according to what physiologists tell us, by that time there will 
hardly be a particle in our bodies which is now in them. 
Great changes may occur, but people will identify us as the 
same persons then that we are now. So, then, we may also 
lose the more earthy parts of our material organism, and 
still come from our graves with bodies refined and spiritual 
indeed, but still interiorly and in form identical with those 
which we now inhabit. The butterfly is the same animal with 
the caterpillar which preceded it. It has the same body. It 
has arisen out of the same elements which constituted the 
caterpillar; though it has left much gross material behind it. 
The seed which we plant is the same that afterwards shoots up 
into a stalk, with blades and blossoms; so that we point to it 
and say, "Here is the flower I planted;" although much ot 
that seed decays n the ground and mingles with the dust. 



DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON KEV. XX. 93 

And so the present mortal body is the germ or seed of the 
future heavenly body. The one rises out of the other. It is 
the same creature emerging in a new development. And 
when the signal for our reanimation comes, we shall gather to 
ourselves the interior essence of our slumbering dust, emerge 
in glory from our graves, and go forth amid the sublimities of 
a life in which body and soul shall enjoy unsullied and im- 
mortal union. 

It has been made a question, however, whether the text 
before us refers to the literal resurrection of the dead. It is 
strange to see to what fancies men have resorted to do away 
with the plain, evident, and literal import of the apostle's 
words. 

Some say that this " first resurrection," at the beginning of 
the millennium, is nothing more than the quickening and re- 
generation of sinners by repentance and faith in Christ. They 
take it as a spiritual resurrection, like that in the case of the 
returned prodigal. That the Scriptures do speak of the sin- 
ner's recovery as a resurrection, there can be no doubt. 
Whenever a wanderer from God is made thoughtful, prayerful 
and penitent, he rises out of moral inanity to spiritual activity. 
As John expresses it, he passes from death unto life. But 
this moral quickening will by no means meet the case before 
us. The resurrection of which the text speaks is the resur- 
rection of such as had already been raised spiritually, and who 
partake of this resurrection because they were before " blessed 
and holy" It is the resurrection, not of those who sleep in 
sin, but of "them that sleep in Jesus;" not of those who 
have never known Christ, but of " them that were beheaded for 
the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of Glod, and had not 
worshipped the beast." It is the resurrection of those who 
were saints without it, many of whom had so loved Christ as 
to lay down their lives for him and his gospel. 

Others have supposed that this "first resurrection" is purely 



94 THE LAST TIMES. 

ecclesiastical, and that it was effected in the days of Con- 
stantine the Great, when the visible church was released from 
the cruel pagan persecutions, legalized, and elevated to the 
patronage of government. But every rightly-instructed man 
knows that the changes wrought by Constantine were rather a 
burial of the true church than a resurrection of it. So far 
from being attended with blessedness and holiness, it was 
rather the opening of the door for the worst degradations and 
wickednesses that ever despoiled Christendom. Instead of 
binding Satan, he was then first let fully loose upon the 
gospel to corrupt and tarnish it with his foul devices. In 
place of introducing the reign of Christ with his saints, it 
laid the way for the reign of the Man of sin with his corrupt 
adherents. And, so far from making men " priests of God 
and of Christ," it made them priests u after the working 01 
Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, with all 
deceivableness of unrighteousness." 

Others, again, are of opinion that this "first resurrection" 
denotes a great number of dissimilar changes relating to the 
prosperity of the gospel and the peace of the world, such as 
the general conversion of the wicked, the restoration of the 
Jews, the universal diffusion of liberty and light, and the 
revival of Christianity in the purity in which it was embraced 
by the martyrs. This notion was first set on foot by Whitby 
about 150 years ago, and has met with great favor from some 
classes of teachers. But it is filled with inconsistencies and 
surrounded by insuperable objections. The resurrection which 
the text speaks of is the resurrection of " them that were be- 
headed for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, 
and whoever had not worshipped the beast nor his image." 
The wicked never were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, 
or for the word of God. Their deadcess in trespasses and 
in sins is not the result of their faithful adherence to the Son 
of God. The Jewish race, which now lies buried among the 



THIS RESURRECTION MANIFESTLY LITERAL. 95 

nations, was not denationalized and reduced to this condition 
in consequence of bearing testimony for Christ, but for deny- 
ing and crucifying him. It is impossible, therefore, that 
these parties should be the subjects of the resurrection spoken 
of. And the idea that the resurrection of the martyrs denotes 
merely the revival of their spirit and moral qualities is at 
variance with the text in another respect. The apostle is 
speaking of persons. "I saw the souls of them that had been 
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus; — and they lived and 
reigned with Christ.' ' The original term employed is 4'°X a s, 
which occurs nearly a hundred times in the New Testament, 
but which is never once used to denote characteristics or 
attributes. It invariably means lives, beings, 'persons, souls ; 
as where we read there " were in the ship two hundred and 
seventy-six souls;" — there were added to the church "about 
three thousand souls;" — in Noah's ark "eight souls were 
saved." And so the living again and reigning of those souls 
that were beheaded for their fidelity to Grod, must mean the 
resurrection, not of their spiritual characteristics, but of these 
beings or persons themselves. As a patient student and 
learned critic remarks, "It is a literal resurrection that is 
predicted of them manifestly, inasmuch as that is the only 
resurrection of which disembodied saints are capable. It 
certainly is not a renovation of heart, as they were renewed 
while in this life, and are made priests of God and of Christ, 
and given to reign with him, because they were saints here. 
As their resurrection then cannot be a spiritual change analo- 
gous to a restoration of the body from death, it must neces- 
sarily be a corporeal change. That it is to be a corporeal 
resurrection is shown moreover by the representation that the 
rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years should be 
finished. The rest of the dead are the literally dead ; not the 
literally living, though without spiritual life. To treat that 
term as a mere metaphor, is ti< deny to the vision the character 



96 THE LAST TIMES- 

of a symbol and to empty the whole passage of its mean- 
ing. If the death of those who are not partakers of the first 
resurrection be but metaphorical, then must the death of 
the martyrs be metaphorical also, and thence the resurrection 
which is ascribed to the souls be merely metaphorical. But 
that is to make the passage a mere assemblage of metaphors, 
without any thing literal from which the figures are drawn or 
to which they are applied, and to divest it of all propriety 
and significance. If the souls of the dead, as well as the 
resurrection, be mere metaphors, no agents whatever are left 
to be their subjects; and they are predicates without any 
thing of which they are affirmed, — metaphors with nothing 
which they metaphorize. As the souls exhibited in the 
vision then are real souls, so, also, for the same reason, the 
rest of the dead are the real dead, and the resurrection af- 
firmed of the one and denied of the other a real resurrection. " 
(Lord's Exp. of the Apocalypse, p. 519.) Professor Stuart 
also treats this text as "simple prose," and endorses "the 
exegesis which deduces from the whole passage the reality of 
a first resurrection at the introduction of the millennium." 
(Com., in loc.') 

The facts upon which those rely who interpret this first 
resurrection figuratively are, — that Ezekiel has the restoration 
and conversion of the Jews symbolized to him under the re- 
suscitation of the dry bones, and that the Savior speaks of the 
repentance and recovery of the prodigal son as the making 
alive of him that was dead. With these two facts, they jump 
at the conclusion that the resurrection of the martyrs and 
holy ones at the beginning of the millennium is to be taken 
in a somewhat similar sense. But, when we draw the neces- 
sary distinctions between things that differ, this argument 
proves the exact reverse of what it is designed to establish. 
It must be taken as a settled canon of interpretation that 
where a resurrection is a%med, it can be taken only in the 



ARGUMENT FROM THE CASE OF THE MARTYRS. 97 

sense of the presupposed death. So in both these instances 
the resuscitations are the exact counterparts cf the previous 
deaths. The death symbolized by the valley of dry bones is 
plainly described as both a national and moral death; and the 
predicted resurrection is accordingly both a national and a 
moral resurrection. The death of the prodigal son was a 
moral and spiritual death; and his resurrection was of course 
of the same kind. And so it must also be in the case before 
us. But what sort of death is tha* which has passed upon 
the martyrs, and upon " those who W3re beheaded for the testi- 
mony of Jesus, and for the word of God" ? Was it a national 
death? Nationally the martyrs never lived, and of course 
could not nationally die. Was theirs a spiritual or moral 
death? No: for no one can be called Christ's witness, 
blessed and holy, and yet be dead in this moral sense. 
What was their death, then, but a literal, personal and indi- 
vidual death ? Was it not a death in the real, natural and 
ordinary meaning of that word ? Well, then, here, as in the 
other cases, as was the death so shall the predicted resur- 
rection be. As these martyrs and saints literally, really 
and personally died, and in that sense alone are dead, so 
shall they again be literally, really and personally made alive 
in "the first resurrection;" whilst "the rest of the dead" 
sleep on " until the thousand years are finished." Spiritu- 
ally the martyrs are not dead; nationally they never died; 
influentially they are not dead. They have had their succes- 
sors in all ages, in whom their qualities and spirit have never 
become extinct. They yet speak. They are dead corporeally, 
and in no other sense. And when John tells us that they 
shall live again in the first resurrection, he can mean nothing 
but a corporeal resuscitation. The wicked who die in their 
sins are not to be spiritually raised, nor nationally raised, nor 
influentially raised. When they die, their probation ends, 
and judgment comes. When it is amrmed, therefore, that 
G 9 



yo THE LAST TIMES. 

they shall live again, it can only be understood of a corporeal 
resurrection. Yet the same words, in the same verses, which 
assert the resurrection of the unsanctified dead, assert the 
resurrection of the holy dead, with only these two differences, 
that the holy rise to reign, whilst the wicked rise to burn, and 
that the one class rises a thousand years in advance of the 
other class. And as the resurrection of the wicked — "the rest 
of the dead" — at the final judgment can be taken only in a 
corporeal and literal sense, so the first resurrection — the resur- 
rection of the " blessed and holy" — must also be received in 
the same corporeal and literal sense. I can see no escape 
from this conclusion. 

I feel compelled, therefore, to understand the text as 
referring to the literal resurrection of the dead. I can ijnd 
no other theory which will meet the necessities of the case, or 
which will conform to sound principles of interpretation. I 
find then a duality in the resurrection which the Scriptures 
teach. It is twofold. There is a "first resurrection" at the 
beginning of the millennium, and there is a resurrection at 
the end of the millennium. The one embraces the martyrs 
and saints, — the "blessed and holy," — "them that sleep in 
Jesus;" the other the resurrection of "the rest of the dead." 
The one is the resurrection which we are taught to hope for 
and seek after ; the other a something about which the Scrip- 
tures say but little, and which promises nothing to be desired. 
The one is a resurrection to all the glories, joys and honors 
of a perfected redemption ; the other a resurrection to dismay, 
shame and everlasting contempt. 

Nor is this a novel doctrine. Calmet says, "The ancient 
fathers acknowledged a twofold resurrection : first, that which 
is to precede the Messiah's reign of a thousand years upon 
earth; secondly, that which is to follow the reign of the 
thousand years. This sentiment is found clearly enough in 
the second book of Esdras, in the testament of the twelve 



RABBINICAL TESTIMONY. 99 

patriarchs, and in several of the Rabbins." Professor Stuart 
declares that "the doctrine of a, first resurrection as taught 
by John was not novel to the men of his time." " I have my 
doubts," says he, " whether the assertion is correct, that the 
doctrine of the first resurrection is nowhere else to be found 
in the Scriptures. That the great mass of Jewish Rab- 
bins have believed and taught the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion of the just, in the days of Messiah's development, 
there can be no doubt on the part of him who has made any 
considerable investigation of this matter." Thus, Jonathan 
the Paraphrast, who lived thirty years before Christ, says of 
the people of God, "They shall be gathered from their 
captivity ; they shall live under the shadow of Messiah ; the 
dead shall rise, and good shall increase in the earth." This 
is based on the last chapter of Hosea. Rabbi Kimchi says, 
" The holy blessed God will raise the dead at the time of de- 
liverance." This he draws from Isaiah xxvi. 19. The San- 
hedrin, cited by Aruch, says, "There is a tradition in the 
house of Elias, that the righteous whom the holy and blessed 
God shall raise from the dead shall not return again to the 
dust -j but for the space of a thousand years, in which the holy 
blessed God will renew the world, they shall have wings like 
the wings of eagles, and shall fly above the waters." Another 
says, " The benefit of the rain is common to the just and the 
unjust, but the resurrection from the dead is the peculiar 
privilege of those who live righteously." Chabbo says, " The 
dead in the land of Israel shall live or be quickened first 
in the days of Messiah, and shall enjoy the years of Messiah." 
Thus also in Zohar we read, upon Isaiah xxv. 8 : — " The world 
cannot be freed from sin until King Messiah shall come, and 
the blessed God shall raise up those who sleep in the dust." 
These, and many like sayings, have been collected by critics 
from the most ancient of the Rabbinical writings. Corre- 
sponding passages have also been found in the sacred tra- 



100 THE LAST TIMES. 

ditions of the heathen world. Of course no Rabbinical 
testimony or mere tradition is adequate to prove an article of 
religious faith; but these quotations are not without their 
significance. Where did these men get such ideas? They 
for the most part profess to receive them from the writings of 
the inspired prophets. They refer us to Isaiah, Ezekie] and 
Daniel as their authority. Nor are their interpretations to be 
discarded as necessarily fanciful and erroneous because they 
belong to the records of Rabbinic lore. It is a sorry wit 
which takes for granted that a man cannot be guided to the 
truth of God because he is a Jew. These ancient Rabbins 
were the friends, countrymen, brethren and children of 
Jehovah's own inspired prophets, and may be our guides in 
many things. 

' The passage to which they refer us in Isaiah (xxvi. 
19) certainly does describe a resurrection, — a joyous resur- 
rection, — and therefore a resurrection of the just only, — and 
specifically connects it with the coming and glorious reign of 
the Lord Messiah. The plaee to which they point in Ezekiel 
(xxxvii.) certainly describes a national and moral resurrection, 
and surrounds it with promises which imply also the literal 
resurrection of all the faithful Israel to share the kingdom of 
him who shall be their Prince forever. And what they cite 
from Daniel, (xii. 2,) according to the best Hebraists, not only 
asserts a resurrection which all take to be literal, but draws a 
plain distinction between the resurrection of the just and the 
rest of the dead. Graon thus paraphrases it : — " And many of 
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; this is 
the resurrection of the dead of Israel, whose lot is to eternal 
life; but those who do not awake (at that time) shall be an 
abhorrence to all flesh." This agrees with the translation of 
Professor Bush : — " Many from out of the sleepers in the dust 
of the earth shall awake ; these (that is, those who awake, shall 
be) to everlasting life, and those (who do not then awake shall 



STATE OF THE QUESTION IN CHRIST'S TIME. 101 

be) to everlasting contempt." Thus also does Professor 
Whiting render it: — "Many from the sleepers of the dust of 
the ground shall awake, these to everlasting life, and those 
to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence/' The language of 
Daniel thus accommodates itself exactly to the language of 
the text. The martyrs and saints arise: "this is the first 
resurrection. But the rest of the dead lived not again until 
the thousand years were finished." Daniel is unquestionably 
speaking of a literal, limited and eclectic resurrection. As 
Dr. Hody argues, "if many, standing alone, could signify all, 
many of, which is the phraseology of this text, cannot signify- 
all. Many o/them that sleep in the dust of the earth cannot 
be said to be all they that sleep in the dust. Many of does 
plainly except some." And if there is to be a limited and 
eclectic resurrection when the great Prince shall stand up for 
Israel, and yet all men shall be made alive again, the point is 
settled that there must be a twofold resurrection, just as John 
teaches us in the text. 

The state of the question, in the period in which the New 
Testament was given, was therefore simply this: — The ancient 
prophets speak of a resurrection from among the dead, a literal 
resurrection to eternal life, which embraces only the just, and 
leaves the wicked still in their graves. The more learned and 
devout Jews so understood these glorious predictions, and 
taught the doctrine of a first resurrection, or resurrection 
embracing only the just. The doctrine of a twofold resur- 
rection was therefore no strange notion to those who lived in 
the time of Christ and his apostles, but familiar to the minds 
of many. If it was an error, we would naturally expect some 
contradiction of it from Christ or his apostles. The absence 
of such contradiction leaves room for the presumption that it 
was not an error. And if we can find language in the New 
Testament adapted only to this belief, and framed to it as the 

9* 



102 THE LAST TIMES. 

truth, the presumption in its favor will have ail needful sup- 
port to furnish ground upon which to insist upon it as a 
divine certainty. 

Let us look, then, at what may be gathered on the subject 
from the New Testament. 

1. I think you will find it invariably true, that wherever 
the resurrection of both the good and bad is spoken of, the 
resurrection of the righteous is always named first, and that 
of the wicked afterwards. "All that are in their graves 
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth : (1) they that have 
done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and (2) they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." " Thera 
shall be a resurrection of the dead both (1) of the just and 
(2) unjust." 

2. The resurrection of the righteous is specifically said to 
precede the resurrection of the wicked. "As in Adam all 
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man 
in his own rayiia, — band, cohort, company: Christ the first- 
fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming; elra to 
tsAo<;, — then the last band." " The dead in Christ shall rise 
first." " The rest of the dead lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished." 

3. The resurrection of the righteous is everywhere spoken 
of as a peculiar blessing, in which the wicked have no share 
whatever. Of every one that seeth the Son and believeth on 
him, Jesus says, " I will raise him, up at the last day;" thus 
distinctly intimating that none but believers shall share in the 
resurrection here contemplated. He speaks of " the resur- 
rection of the just" as something quite distirict from any 
thing in which the unjust shall have apart. He says that 
" the children of the resurrection are equal unto the angels, 
and are the children of Grod," and "are as the angels which 
arc in heaven." Here he certainly speaks of a resurrection 
from which the wicked are quite excluded. See also Romans 



FACTS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 103 

viii. 23 j 1 Cor. vi. 14 j 2 Cor. iv. 14 -.—"Blessed and holy 
is he that hath part in the first resurrection.' ' 

4. The resurrection of the righteous is plainly spoken of 
as eclectic. One instance is in Luke xx. 35, where the Savior 
speaks of those worthy of heaven as destined "to obtain the 
resurrection" — not merely "from the dead/' as our version 
reads, but ex vsxpwv — " out of, or from amongst the dead 
ones." This certainly implies the raising of some, that is, the 
saints, whilst the rest of the dead remain in their graves. 
Another instance is in Philippians iii. 11, where Paul speaks 
of his strong desire and great exertions to " attain unto rrjv 
e£-avo.ff-a<Tiv zwv vexpwv, — the resurrection FROM AMONGST the 
dead ones." What did Paul mean by this ? "Of his resur- 
rection at the end of the world, when all without exception 
will surely be raised, he could have no possible doubt," says 
Professor Stuart. " What sense then can this passage have, if 
it represents him as laboring and suffering merely in order to 
attain to A resurrection, and as holding this up to view as 
unattainable unless he should arrive at a high degree of Chris- 
tian perfection ? On the other hand, let us suppose a first 
resurrection to be appointed as a special reward of high 
attainments in Christian virtue, and all seems to be plain and 
easy. Of a resurrection in a figurative sense, i. e. of regene- 
ration, Paul cannot be speaking ; for he had already attained 
to that on the plain of Damascus." Both these passages 
bring before us the whole congregation of the really dead, 
and describe the resurrection of which they speak as a selec- 
tion (ex) out of or from among that great company, taking 
some, and leaving others. The second is particularly remark- 
able. For if the righteous and the wicked are all to be raised 
together, Paul might have saved his pains to attain to a resur- 
rection of which he would have at all events been partaker. 
" Of like tenor," says Stuart, " is the implication in Luke xiv. 
14, where the Savior promises to his disciples a sure reward 



104 THE LAST TIMES. 

fcr kindness to the poor and suffering, at the resurrection of 
the just. Why the resurrection of the just? — What special 
meaning can this have, unless it implies that there is a resur- 
rection where the just only, and not the unjust, will be raised ? 
This would agree entirely with the view in Rev. xx. 5 : — ' But 
the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand 
} T ears were finished.' " 

Now, when we come to sum up all these facts, and assign 
them the force which belongs to the words of inspiration, the 
conclusion is to me unavoidable, that the doctrine of a two- 
fold resurrection has a solid foundation in the Scriptures. 
The resurrectiou of the holy is entirely separated, in nature 
and in point of time, from the resurrection of " the rest of 
the dead." Strike this doctrine from the Apocalypse, and we 
still have it in the epistles of Paul. Strike it from the epis- 
tles, and we still have it in the teachings of Jesus himself. 
Strike it from the whole New Testament, and we still have it 
firm and unshaken in the holy prophecies of Daniel and 
Isaiah. But let the hand be withered that attempts to strike 
it from any portion of the word of Grod. It is there, distinct 
and clear, authorizing all the saints to hope for the redemption 
of their bodies, and their corporeal transformation, so soon as 
the millennium shall begin. 

Here, then, is another argument for the doctrine of 
Christ's premillennial coming. The resurrection of the 
saints is everywhere connected with his final advent. "All 
shall be made alive ; they that are Christ's at his coming " 
u Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven : and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first." " When he shall appear, we shall 
be like him." But the resurrection and glorification of the 
saints is just as clearly connected with the beginning of the 
millennium. There can be no millennium whilst the wilful 
king continues to " exalt himself, and magnify himself above 



ASPECT OF DEATH TO THE RIGHTEOUS. 105 

every god, and speak marvellous things against the God of 
gods;" and the fall of this antichristian power, and the glo- 
rious resurrection proclaimed by Daniel, are contemporaneous. 
" He shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And 
at that time God's people shall be delivered, every one that 
shall be found written in the book ; and many of them that 
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." So in the text, 
the millennium, or the period of the thousand years, is intro- 
duced by the rising and living again of " them that were 
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, 
and which had not worshipped the beast nor his image." 
These holy ones are to " live and reign with Christ the thou- 
sand years ;" and so their resurrection must occur at the begin- 
ning of the* thousand years. And as they that are Christ's arise 
"at his coming," his coming must be before the millennium. 
Such, then, is the glorious hope of the Lord's people. 
Very soon shall Christ their deliverer come, and change them 
into a full likeness to himself. Then shall his victory over 
death be manifest. " Because he lives, we shall live also." 
Cl For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so 
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 
And how many sunny thoughts cluster around this doctrine ! 

There is nothing so repulsive to our natural instincts as 
death. There are few people who do not feel a cold shudder 
creeping through and through them whenever they realize 
the thought that they must die, and have the coffin-lid screwed 
down upon their foreheads, and be covered up with clods in 
the damp dark ground. But the hope of the resurrection of 
the just throws a radiance round the death-bed and the grave, 
and helps to reconcile us to the mysterious change. To a 
good man, the sepulchre is but the gateway to a better world, 
— the resting-place for the wasted and wearied body previous 
to goin^ fort.\i into the bliss and honors of a divine and eternal 



106 THE LAST TIMES. 

kingdom. Its shades are but a quiet night anterior to an 
everlasting day. Death is but a sleep, which presupposes a 
future awakening. " An eternal sleep" is a contradiction in 
terms, — a miserable solecism, — a mode of speech the very 
phraseclogy of which brands the atheistic invention with ab 
surdity. Sleep is but the temporary suspension of animation 
for the purpose of refreshment and invigoration. It is always 
succeeded by a waking. And such is death to the Christian. 
Jesus has transmuted it into a refreshing sleep, from which we 
shall early arise, in renewed strength and glory, for the scenes 
and employments of a day which shall have no night. The 
New Testament nearly always speaks of the departure of the 
believing as a sleep. Jesus said, " Our friend Lazarus sleep- 
eih; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." " The 
saints which slept," is familiar phraseology to the reader of 
the Scriptures. " David, after he had served his own genera- 
tion, fell on sleep." As the first martyr died, Luke said he 
11 fell asleep." Paul comforted the mourning Thessalonians, 
by assuring them that their pious dead " are asleep," — only 
" asleep," — to be waked to life again when Jesus comes. And 
so all the saints that. have departed this life are said to " sleep 
in Jesus." 

Yes, Christian parent, that child which so suddenly sick- 
ened, withered and faded in your arms, and which with so 
much sadness you yielded to the cold dark grave, is not lost 
and gone eternally. It only sleeps — sweetly sleeps — in the 
arms of its Maker. You buried it ; but you buried it looking 
for the resurrection of the last day, when it shall awake to be 
yours forever. Weep not, daughter, as if that sainted 
mother whom you last saw dressed for the tomb shall never 
look upon you again with her wonted love and tenderness. 
She is thy mother still. She is not dead, but sleepeth. She 
will awake again, and take you to her heart as fondly as ever. 
Sorrow not is they that have no hope, stricken one, mourn- 



THE GLORY OF THE RESURRECTION. 107 

ing over a husband's grave. He has only laid him down to 
rest in soft slumber. God's eye is on that prostrate buried 
form. And when thy loved one's Savior comes he will shake 
off his sepulchral covering, and be thy constant friend as in 
the days gone by. 

" Soon shall you meet again, 
Meet ne'er to sever ; 
Soon will peace wreath her chain 
Round you forever." 

And what a reunion of hearts and exchange of happy 
gratulations shall crown and crowd that day ! What glorious 
meetings and triumphs will then be celebrated ! What devout 
and anxious hopes shall then be consummated ! Then shall 
Jesus say, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust;" and 
they shall obey his call, and rise to praise him forever. Then 
will the once-afflicted saints of every age and clime " stand 
drest in robes of everlasting wear." Then shall those who 
denied themselves and took up the cross receive their crowns. 
Then shall the wisdom of their " respect unto the recom- 
pense of the reward" be vindicated forever. Then shall G-od 
glorify his Son by transforming millions into his glorious 
image. And "then shall be brought to pass the saying that 
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" 

Earth, my brethren, has been the theatre of some splendid 
victories, the fame of which has filled the world and echoed 
along the corridors of ages. But never has earth beheld such 
a triumph as that which shall be realized at the resurrection 
of the just. Then shall be enacted another genesis, more 
glorious than the first. Then shall be performed another 
exodus, more illustrious than that which Moses led. Then 
shall truth triumph over error, and faith over unbelief, hu- 
mility over pride, life over death, and immortality over the 
grave. Then shall the cross give way tc the crown, and cor- 
ruption to glory; and from the mold and ashes of every 



t08 THE LAST TIMES. 

Christian's tomb shall come forth an undying form, radiant 
with the transforming touch of Deity, — a dear-bought but 
sublime and imperishable monument to the resurrection and 
the life. The graves of the patriarchs shall open. The scat- 
tered dust and ashes of prophets, apostles and martyrs shall 
be gathered. Unknown saints of God that have died in gar- 
rets, and cellars, and barns, and dungeons, — and lowly and 
despised poor in Christ who sleep in potters' -fields, — shall 
spring forth from their unnoticed graves in sublimer glory 
than ever adorned the illustrious Solomon. Precious inno- 
cents, whose names were never heard, and lamented children, 
that molder in their little tombs, and pious afflicted ones, who 
spent their days in pain secluded from the gay world, — all, 
all shall then forsake their resting-places and shine as the 
stars for ever and ever Then shall all the waiting saints of 
all lands and ages, mysteriously transferred to the bridal halls 
of heaven, join in holy fellowship to celebrate with untold joy 
the sublime epiphany of their redeeming Lord, with all their 
varied tongues in heavenly concord singing the triumphs of 
that salvation for which they lived, and hoped, and suffered, 

" Oh, scenes surpassing fable, and yet true ! 
Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which, who can see, 
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
His soul refreshed with foretastes of the joy ?" 

Not all the saints, indeed, may rise at the sanfe instant, nor 
all the living be translated at once ; there is progression and 
order in all the divine works ;* but still the resurrection is for 
all that sleep in Christ, and the translation for all whom he 
shall find awaiting his coming. All shall share in the 
happy victory. And what adds to the peculiar joy of some 
is that they will never die at all, but shall be changed, in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; 
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised 

* See Note H, page 349. 



A SUBLIME THOUGHT. 109 

incorruptible, and we shall be changed." " The dead in Christ 
shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with thein." And what a thought is this, 
that there perhaps are some listening to me now who shall 
never know by experience what death is ! Those of Christ's 
people who are living when he comes shall of a sudden feel 
the thrill of immortality careering through them, and find 
•themselves transported to join the children of the resurrec- 
tion. Not one of them that truly believe in Jesus shall be 
left behind. The humblest and obscurest, the lowest with the 
highest, all shall be taken together. For "he shall send forth 
his angels, with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end 
of heaven to the other.' ' And they shall live and reign with 
Christ the thousand years. "And so shall we ever be with 
the Lord." And thenceforward forever shall this song be 
sung : — 

" Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
And he will dwell with them, 
And they shall be his people, 
And God himself shall be with them, 
And be their God. 

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; 
And there shall be no more death, 
Neither sorrow, nor crying, 
Neither shall there be any more pain : 
For the former things are passed away." 

Verily, " blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection !" Was there ever conceived such a system of 
grace and glory as that which constitutes the gospel of Jesus ? 
How precious are its promises ! How transporting are its 
hopes ! How it meets the vast desires of humanity, and 
pours consolation into the hearts of the children of sorrow ! 
What is there to compare with it ? Atheism, with its eternal 
sleep, may stupefy the soul, and render it somewhat callous to 

10 



110 THE LAST TIMES. 

the woes of life. But how sad and cheerless is the epitaph 
which it writes on the tomb ! Eeathen philosophy, with its 
transmigrations and feeble guesses, may excite some dull and 
low concern for futurity; but how gloomy is the destiny which 
it sets before man ! It is only Christianity, with its resurrec- 
tion and another life, that can at all rouse man into a proper 
consciousness of his dignity, or satisfy the lofty and mighty 
aspirations that well up from his heart. This is our glorious 
hope, the price of which cannot be equalled with gold. 

And how devoutly thankful should we then be for what 
God has done for us and purposed concerning us ! How 
should our hearts soften at the contemplations before us, and 
swell with emotions of love towards so great a Benefactor ! 
How should we be concerned to find out the will of such a 
friend, and seek to approve ourselves unto him ! How cheer- 
fully should we hail him as the chief among ten thousand, 
and the one altogether lovely ! How gladly should we set our- 
selves to do his gracious commands, and to keep his loving 
counsels ! In him is our strength, our hope, and our joy. 
He is not ashamed to be our God, and surely we should not 
be ashamed to be his people, " looking for that blessed hope, 
even the glorious appearing of the great God, our Savior 
Jesus Christ." Let us, then, give ourselves to him, body and 
soul, as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. Let 
us fully identify ourselves with Jesus, knowing that " when 
he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as 
he is." And, especially, let us not forget that " every man 
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as the 
Savior is pure." He hath prepared for us a city; but "there 
shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." It is only 
"the holy' who shall have part in the first resurrection. 
" The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur- 
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and 



MOMENTOUS QUESTIONS. Ill 

all linrs, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with 
fire and brimstone, which is the second death." It is only 
"unto them that look for him" that "he shall appear the 
second time unto salvation." 

WIRD DAS NICHT FREUDE SEYN! 

Will that not joyful be, 
When we walk by faith no more, 
When the Lord we loved before 

As Brother-man we see ! 
When he welcomes us above, 
When we share his smile of love, — 

Will that not joyful be ? 

Will that not joyful be, 
When to meet us rise and come 
All our buried treasures home, 

A glorious company ! 
When our arms embrace again 
Those we mourned so long in vain, — > 

Will that not joyful be? 

Will that not joyful be, 
When the foes we dread $o meet 
Every one beneath our feet 

We tread triumphantly ! 
When we never more can know 
Slightest touch of pain or woe,— - 

Will that not joyful be ? 

Yes ! that will joyful be, 
When we hear what none can tell, 
And the ringing chorus swell 

Of angels' melody ! 
When we join their songs of praise, 
Hallelujahs with them raise, — 

That, that will joyful be! 

H. C. VON SCHWEINITE. 



FIFTH DISCOUKSE. 



the messiah's kingdom — how spoken of by the ancient pro- 
phets how apprehended by the savior's contemporaries 

how spoken of in the new testament specifically connected 

with the second advent — the present dispensation not 1he 
Messiah's glorious reign. 



Dan. vii. 13, 14 : I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the 
Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the 
Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And 
there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, nations and languages shoidd serve him : his dominion is 
an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his king- 
dom that which shall not be destroyed. 

That this vision contains a prophecy concerning ''the last 
times," will not be denied. That the "one like the Son of 
man" is Jesus Christ, in his glorified human nature, is ad- 
mitted on all hands. That his " coming with the clouds of 
heaven" refers to his final advent in this world, is also the 
common belief of interpreters. His being led to the Ancient of 
days to receive dominion, plainly denotes his investiture with 
rulership, and his inauguration into the august office of the 
almighty Sovereign of the nations. This dominion is some- 
thing more than his present spiritual reign in men's hearts ; 
for he does not enter upon it until he comes in the clouds. It 
is also a kingdom the affairs of which are to be administered 
by Christ in person, or by those under his immediate control 
and direction ; for it is given to him as the Son of man, and 
his personal descent at the time of receiving it is explicitly 
112 



CHRIST WILL REIGN PERSONALLY ON EARTH. 113 

affirmed. It must also be a visible and terrestrial kingdom, 
for " nations" are mentioned as its subjects. 

The doctrine which I accordingly deduce from this text, 
and which I shall aim to set forth in .this discourse, is, That 
the Lord Jesus Christ will return again to this world, and here 
stt up a visible Christocracy , or empire of his own, and per- 
sonally reign over the nations in the bliss and glory of a uni- 
versal and eternal kingdom. There are many good people 
who believe no such thing. My main object will therefore be 
to prove it by solid Scriptural arguments. And if I can show 
that it has a firm foundation in the word of God, I certainly 
have a right to claim for it the respect due to a doctrine of 
inspiration. Let us then approach the subject with humble 
reverence, sincerely desirous to learn the truth, and earnestly 
praying that God may give us a proper insight to this wonder- 
ful mystery. 

I. I remark then, in the first place, that the prophecies of 
the Old Testament, when taken in their plain and natural 
sense, certainly predict the Messiah as a great prince who 
shall reign in this world. To establish this remark I appre- 
hend to be no difiicult task. The very first words that ever 
were uttered concerning Christ already imply it. When God 
reckoned with Adam, though he excluded him from Paradise, 
he left him this consoling promise: — Tlie seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpent's head. Satan had assailed our first 
parents, and overcome them. By that victory he became the 
reigning prince of this world, and to this day he holds his 
dark supremacy in nearly every department of the earth. The 
crushing of this serpent's head can mean nothing less than the 
demolition of Satan's empire, and the establishment of the 
empire of the woman's seed in its place. And if Christ, as 
the Son of man, is to displace Satan, and reign over the 
nations as Satan now rules over them, nothing short of a literal, 

real and universal empire can be the result. 
H 10* 



114 THE LAST TIMES. 

The next distinct allusion to this "seed" is in God's cove- 
nant with Abraham, where it is said that he shall "possess the 
gate of his enemies, and all nations of the earth be blessed in 
him." Paul tells us that this promise did not belong to 
Abraham's posterity at large, but only to "one, which is 
Christ." To possess an enemy's gate is to conquer that 
enemy, — to take his last defence. And when it is said of 
Christ, that he shall possess the gates of his enemies, and 
bless all nations, we have before us the idea of a great, vic- 
torious and universal prince, making himself the master and 
the benefactor of the world. 

Another reference to the same thing we find in Hannah's 
song, where it is said, " The Lord shall judge the ends of the 
earth, and he shall give strength to his King, and exalt the 
horn of his anointed." Here too we have the princedom of 
the Messiah in this world, and his universal sovereignty, 
pointedly asserted. 

In God's promises to David we have the matter still more 
particularly amplified. God says to the monarch of Israel, 
" When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy 
fathers, 1 will set up thy seed after thee, and 1 will establish 
his kingdom, and the throne of his kingdom, forever. And 
THINE HOUSE, and THY KINGDOM shall be established forever 
before thee: thy throne shall be established forever." 
If this promise refers pre-eminently to Christ " the Son of 
David," as all agree that it does, then he is to be a great 
earthly prince; for he is to occupy a throne, and possess a 
kingdom', and that throne and kingdom are identical with the 
throne and kingdom of his father David. Much as men may 
dislike to admit this, here is God's promise, in words as plain 
as any man can use. David had an empire in this world; and 
he reigned as a prince in this world; and God says that his 
promised Son stall take David's place, and establish David's 
throne forever. David himself certainly so understood the 



ARGUMENT FROM THE PROPHETS. 115 

promise, and by divine inspiration so prophesied of it in the 
Psalms. As he had his court in Mount Zion, so he represents 
his illustrious Son as "King upon the holy hill of Zion" with 
the heathen given to him for his inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the sarth for his possession. " He shall have 
dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the 
earth. Yea, kings shall fall down before him : all nations 
shall serve him." Who can listen to such language with an 
unbiassed mind, and not gather from it the idea, th;:t the pro- 
phet is here speaking of some great and mighty king, who is 
to sway the sceptre of literal empire over the inhabitants of 
this world? 

Turn now to Isaiah, the great evangelical prophet, and see 
how he describes the Messiah. " Unto us a child is born, 
unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called, Wonder- 
ful, Counselor, The mighty Glod, The Father of the everlasting 
age, The Prince of peace/ 7 Nobody misunderstands this. All 
take the words just as they are written, without looking after 
some mystical or allegorical meaning. By what authority, 
then, shall we reject the literal acceptation of what follows? 
"And the government shall be upon his shoulder. Of the 
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, 
UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID, AND UPON HIS KINGDOM, to 
order IT, and to establish IT with judgment and with justice 
from henceforth even forever." What could more unequi- 
vocally describe the Messiah as a great prince, reigning in 
David's place in this world ? 

If we turn to Jeremiah, we find the Savior spoken of in the 
same manner. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 
I" will raise unto david a righteous Branch, and a King 
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice and judg- 
ment IN THE EARTH. In his days Judah shall be s'aved, and 
Israet sJiall dwell safely." " And they shall serve the Lord 



116 THE LAST TIMES. 

their God, and David their King (in his promised Son) ivhom 
J will raise up unto them.^ 

These are very plain and positive predictions. Others of 
like import might be presented. Here and elsewhere, the 
Messiah is again and again called a king. He is to possess 
and occupy David's throne. He is to he a conqueror of his 
enemies and the possessor of their cities. He is to reign over 
the nations. He is to be the commander around whose banner 
the Gentiles shall be gathered. His kingdom is to be in a 
sense the kingdom of David, re-established, exalted, extended 
over all the earth, and made forever permanent. This is the 
natural and obvious meaning of the words; and there is 
no reason why we should understand them differently, or seek 
for some other remote and occult meaning. Professor Stuart has 
justly said that "it is one of the plainest and most cogent of 
all the rules of hermeneutics, that every passage of Scripture, 
or of any other book, is to be interpreted as bearing its plain 
and primary and literal sense, unless good reason can be given 
why it should be tropically understood." Vitriuga gives it as 
"an unerring canon, and of great use," that "we must never 
depart from the literal meaning of the subject mentioned in 
its own appropriate name, if its principal attributes square with 
the subject of the prophecy." Ernesti says, "Theologians 
are right when they affirm the literal sense to be the only true 
one." And Hooker declares, "I hold it for a most infallible 
rule in expositions of sacred Scripture, that when a literal con- 
struction will stand, the farthest from the letter is commonly 
the worst." What then are we to do with the prophecies to 
which I have referred? The literal meaning is evident. 
There is not only no necessity for departing from it, but we 
cannot depart from it without violence and inconsistency. I 
therefore - claim it as a fact, that the Old Testament writers 
have predicted Christ as a great prince who is literally to reign 
upon the throne of David in real empire over all the world 



opinions of Christ's contemporaries. 117 

II. It is also true, in the second place, that when the Savior 
came into the world, as the Son of Mary, he was expected as 
a great prince who should set up a literal empire in this world. 
This is a point so notorious, and so much dwelt upon by theo- 
logians and preachers, that it is hardly necessary to do more 
than state it. 

Knapp says, "At the time of Christ, and previously, the 
current opinion of the people in Palestine, and indeed of most 
of the Pharisees and lawyers, was, that he would be a temporal 
deliverer and a King of the Jews, and indeed a universal 
monarch, who would reign over all nations. The apostles them- 
selves held this opinion." 

Neander says, " The Jews expected a Messiah who should 
be armed with miraculous power in their behalf, free them 
from civil bondage, execute a severe retribution upon the ene- 
mies of the theocratic people, and make them masters of the 
world in a universal empire, whose glory it was their special 
delight to set forth/' 

Schaff says, "The Jews conceived of the Messianic kingdom 
as a glorious restoration of the throne of David." 

Brooks says, "It is quite notorious that the Jews did, in 
the time of our Savior, look for a King who should, in an 
illustrious and glorious manner, inherit the throne of David, 
reign over Israel, and obtain dominion and possession over all 
nations/' 

And so uniform is the testimony on this point, that it is 
unnecessary to argue it. When Herod inquired of the chief 
priests and scribes where Christ should be born, "they said 
unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by 
the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art 
not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee 
shall come A GOVERNOR that shall rule my people Israel." 
This shows how the Jews understood the ancient prophets, and 
what were their expectations at the time. Herod certainly 



118 THE LAST TIMES. 

acted under the apprehension that the coming Christ was to be 
a great prince, when he gave orders " and slew all the children 
that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof." Why 
adopt measures to slay the infant Savior if he did not fear that 
Christ would again restore the Jewish throne? Nay, we read 
that even from far beyond the limits of Palestine, certain 
"wise men came, saying, Where is he that is born King of the 
Jews?" It would seem that whithersoever a knowledge of the 
Hebrew prophecies had gone, it was uniformly expected that 
the promised Messiah would be a sublime and triumphant 
Jewish king, whose dominion would absorb all other king- 
doms, and stand forever. 

That extravagant and unfounded notions were entertained 
by many, I have no doubt. Some looked for Christ only as a 
military hero, and conceived of his reign too much after the 
style of ambitious tyranny. They sometimes spoke of him 
only as a conquering leader, whereas he is at the same time a 
divine spiritual Savior. They surrounded him too much with 
their own carnal and resentful feelings, and overlooked that 
meekness and holiness of spirit which is indispensable to a 
blissful participation in his princely ministrations. They 
failed to apprehend that great foundation-fact, that he was 
first to suffer ere he should reign, and bear the cross before 
reaching the crown. But, with all their narrow bigotries and 
carnal hopes, they did not misconceive this one prominent 
feature of the matter, that the promised Messiah was to be a 
great prince, who should reign upon the throne of David his 
father, and extend his royal dominion over all the earth. So 
the prophets had spoken, and so they understood what tho 
prophets said. 

III. I proceed, then, to a third remar'i, viz. : that the New 
Testament nowhere contradicts what was thus expected of the 
Messiah. There are, indeed, a few passages which seem to 
conflict, with these expectations; but when attentively consi- 



SPIRITUALITY OF CHRISTIANITY. 119 

dered, and their real meaning ascertained, they will be found 
entirely accordant with the doctrine which I am endeavoring 
to set forth. 

That Christianity is an eminently spiritual religion, all who 
understand it must admit.* The fundamental principle of the 
Messiah's kingdom is his reign over the heart, bringing all 
its affections and impulses into subjection to the will of G-od. 
This is the germ on which every thing else depends. He who 
is not spiritually renewed, and morally assimilated to Christ, 
has neither part nor lot in Christ's kingdom, whatever may 
be his birth, blood, or external relations. " However different 
the extent and outward form of the kingdom," says a distin- 
guished author, " however great its ultimate triumph and glo- 
ries, this is still its peculiar feature and character, — God, the 
Savior, reigning supreme in the heart of the once-alienated 
and rebellious sinner, and all dispensations are but hastening 
on this great result the more fully over all the earth." We 
would ignore the most glorious and most distinguished feature 
of Christianity, if we were for a moment to think differently. 
It is therefore to be presumed that the Savior and his inspired 
servants should set forth this point with marked perspicuity. 
And we would., especially expect them to express themselves 
strongly on this feature of the kingdom, as there were many 
of their hearers who had quite lost sight of it. It was the 
most serious mistake of the Jews, not that they expected 
Christ as a triumphing Lord, but that they did not compre- 
hend how he was at the same time to be a spiritual Redeemer, 
and that the blessings of his glorious reign were to extend 
only to those who should be inwardly subjected to his holy 
will. They thought their lineal descent from Abraham, and 
their formal submission to the Mosaic ritual, presented all 
that was needful to secure for them the full benefit of the 
sublime achievements of their expected King. This was a 
disease needing to be cauterized. Hence, when the Pharisees 



120 THE LAST TIMES. 

asked Jesus "when the kingdom of God should come," he at 
once struck at the root of their false hopes, and called them 
back from their dreams of glory to those first rudiments with- 
out which neither Jew nor G-entile shall ever see the kingdom 
of God. " He answered and said, The kingdom of God cometh 
not with observation. " That is, the essence of the Messianic 
reign does not lie in the pomp, show and outward demonstra- 
tions of power for which they were looking. " Neither shall 
they say, Lo here ! or, Lo there !" as if it were to be set up 
with mere physical victories. "The kingdom of God is ivithin 
you." Its seat is in the heart; and unless first found in \hQ 
heart it will never be found at all. This is what they had 
overlooked ; and this is all this passage teaches. It is to the 
same point that Paul speaks, when he says, " The kingdom of 
God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy 
in the Holy Ghost." The antithesis which he presents is 
not between a visible personal reign of Christ, and a mere 
reign by his Spirit and grace, but between the true prerequi- 
site spiritual submission to Christ, and that mere ceremonial 
righteousness upon which the Jews so much boasted and 
relied. But the fact that a man's heart must be renewed and 
purified as a condition of participation in the blessings of the 
mediatorial kingdom, by no means proves that that kingdom 
is not hereafter to take form, and be outwardly manifested in 
a triumphant personal reign of the Savior in this world. For 
if we interpret these words so as to confine the divine king- 
dom to the heart, and to righteousness, peace and joy in the 
Holy Ghost, we necessarily exclude from it the outward 
church, the sacraments, and a future home in heaven. And 
yet, if we dare extend the limits of the divine kingdom be- 
yond the mere inward experiences of the soul, there is nothing 
to prevent us from extending it so as to embrace also the 
future personal reign of the Messiah upon earth. For if tlu 
present existence of the kingdom in men's hearts is recon 



AN OFT-MISQUOTED PASSAGE EXPLAINED. 121 

citable with the hope of a more glorious form of the kingdom 
in the heavenly world, it is equally reconcilable, and on the 
same grounds, with the doctrine of the future princely reign 
of Christ over the nations. 

Another passage often misquoted upon this subject is that 
where Christ says, u My kingdom is not (ex) from this world" 
When he uttered these words, he was on his trial before 
Pilate. He had been accused of treasonable purposes. Pilate, 
therefore, asked him whether he was a king. He boldly 
affirmed that he was a king. But to quiet their apprehen- 
sions that he was about to undertake to subvert the existing 
authorities by carnal violence, he qualified his avowal; and 
these words contain the qualification. He does not say that 
his kingdom is not to be located upon earth ; for it is located 
here. His church and all its ordinances are on earth. The 
children of the kingdom live and operate in this world. He 
only says, his kingdom is not from this world, that it is of 
heavenly origin, and that it is to be set up by supernatural 
means, and not by human prowess or the might of earthly 
arms. That this is what he means, and all that he means, is 
evident from all the circumstances of the case, and is made 
abundantly clear from the additional words : — "Else would my 
servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews" 
Why did he not allow his servants to fight? Because his 
kingdom was not to be built up in that style. He is to enter 
upon his throne by a different process. He is to receive his 
dominion from above, and not from beneath. The Lord will 
give it to him. It will not come out of this world.* 

I may therefore say, with perfect safety, that there is nothing 
in the New Testament to contradict the cherished expecta- 
tions, that the Messiah is to reign as a great prince on David's 
throne in this world. 

IV. Nay, I go further, and say, that there is much in the 
New Testament tending directly to confirm and deepen these 

* See Note F, page 338. 

n 



122 THE LAST TIMES. 

prevailing expectations. Look for a moment at what the 
angel said to Mary, when he came to announce to her the 
birth of the expected Christ. Gabriel there says to the Vir- 
gin, " Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, 
and shalt call his name Jesus ; he shall be great, and shall be 
called the Son of the Highest." These are plain words. All 
understand them just as they stand. And what follows is 
equally plain, and by all sound principles of interpretation 
must be taken as equally literal : — "And the Lord shall give 

him the THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID. AND HE SHALL 
REIGN OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOREVER ) and of his 

kingdom there shall be no end." Now, what effect could such 
an announcement have upon those who were looking for the 
Christ as a great reigning prince, but to establish and fix all 
their prepossessions concerning him in that respect ? And 
when his virgin mother first brought him as a babe to the 
temple, Simeon and Anna, by direct divine inspiration, spoke 
of him as the consolation for which Israel was looking, and 
as the one to accomplish in Jerusalem the very redemption 
which Judah was expecting. What could be the tendency ot 
such utterances, but to make the people who heard them still 
more enthusiastic in the hopes they were cherishing ? When 
Nathanael first recognized the Savior's Messiahship, and ad- 
dressed him as " Rabbi, the Son of God, the King of Israel," 
he evidently conceived of that kingship according to the pre- 
vailing belief of the time. And yet Christ passed it as a 
proper conception, and replied to it in a way which could only 
give intensity to the anticipations that were entertained. 
When the five thousand, who had been miraculously fed in 
the wilderness, would have taken him by force, and placed 
him on the throne, he withdrew himself; for his time for that 
had not yet come ; neither was that the way in which he was 
-to obtain his crown. But he uttered not a word of censure to 
indicate that they were wrong in looking upon him as he who 



FURTHER NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE 123 

should hold earthly dominion, and reign with authority like 
that with which they desired to invest him. When he made 
his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the people around 
him shouted, "Blessed be the King!" "Blessed be the king- 
dom of our father David which cometh 4n the name of the 
Lord!" "Hosannah to the Son of David!" what did they 
mean ? Did they not thereby point to him as their expected 
Messiah, who should break the power of their enemies, renew 
the Jewish throne, establish an earthly empire, and reign as a 
mighty prince? What else could they have meant? And 
yet Jesus received it all with approbation, and never once so 
much as hinted that they were the least mistaken. Nay, 
when the enraged Jewish officials came to him, angrily com- 
plaining of what had been said of him by the shouting multi- 
tude, he not only sided with the applauding people, but de- 
clared that if these held their peace, the stones themselves 
would cry out ! What more impressive endorsement could he 
possibly have given to what the exulting crowd had uttered ? 
Did he not thus acquiesce in their views ? Did he not thus 
most effectually set his seal of sanction to the proclamation, 
and emphatically declare himself the King of the Jews, who 
should restore and occupy the throne of David, and reign in 
Mount Zion according to the letter of prophecy? And so 
again, when the mother of Zebedee's children asked him that 
her two sons might sit, as ministers of state, the one on his 
right hand and the other on his left in his kingdom, she 
doubtless conceived of that kingdom as a princely reign in 
this world. Her request is amply indicative of this. But, if 
she was wrong, the Savior's answer certainly went much fur- 
ther to confirm her views than to undeceive her. True, he 
did not agree to grant her desire ; but he left her under the 
belief that there are such places to be filled in his empire, and 
that they are reserved for those for whom the Father has pre- 
pared them. Are we to suppose the holy Jesus capable of 



124 THE LAST TIMES. 

encouraging delusion? He knew what sort of views that 
woman had of his kingdom j and if it were not in his pur- 
pose to establish that kingdom as she apprehended that he 
would, his conduct and answer are quite inexplicable. The 
prayer of the penitent thief on the cross presents a similar 
case. That heart-broken sufferer besought the Savior to re- 
member him when he came in his kingdom. His ideas of 
that kingdom were doubtless, in the main at least, just what 
were generally entertained. And the Savior answered him 
without intimating that he was at all mistaken, and left him 
to die under the impression with which he uttered the prayer. 
See, also, with what firmness the Savior expressed himself 
when before Pilate. He was there charged with conspiracy 
and treason. The question of Pilate was addressed directly 
to his political pretensions. His accusers were standing by, 
eagerly watching for the smallest intimations on which they 
might secure his condemnation. But his great spirit did 
not quail. Rising up in the sublime dignity which belonged 
to his high nature, he boldly affirmed his claim to royal ap- 
pointment and power. And then, at the last, having spent 
forty days with his disciples after his resurrection from the 
dead, " speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God," how impressive is the sanction which he gave to the 
fond expectations concerning his earthly princedom ! Cer- 
tainly, all these special instructions to his disciples upon this 
particular subject left them no room for any further misunder- 
standing. And yet, at the last hour of his stay on earth, we 
find them still identifying the Messiah's reign with the resto- 
ration of the Jewish throne, and Christ himself still replying 
to them in a way which could only deepen and strengthen 
their ideas of the matter. If there were nothing else upon 
the subject in the New Testament but this account of Christ's 
last interview with his disciples, it would be enough upon 
which to base the belief, that it is his purpose, at the ap- 



Christ's own declarations. 125 

pointed time, to revive the throne of David, and to reign per- 
sonally upon earth. They expected him to " restore the king- 
dom to Israel," and wished to know the time; and all he said, 
and the last he said, was, that they were not " to know the 
time." 

There is also another class of New Testament passages, 
equally, if not still more strongly, corroborative of the com- 
mon expectations of the Messianic reign. When the dis- 
ciples asked the Savior what they should have in return for 
their sacrifices in his cause, he replied, " When the Son of 
man shall sit in the throne of his glory , ye also shall sit upon 
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." "I ap- 
point unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto 
me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, 
and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" 
" Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 

times of the Gentiles be fulfilled When ye see these 

things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh 
at hand. Verily, this yeved — this Jewish race — shall not pass 
away — not cease from being a distinct people — till all be 
fulfilled/'* He here appropriates to himself a future king- 
dom. He says that it is to be set up at the expiration of the 
Gentile dominancy, and while the Jews still continue as a 
distinct race. He says that the apostles are to share in the 
administrations of that kingdom, as judges of the twelve 
tribes of Israel. And what effect would such declarations pro- 
duce upon the minds of men who contemplated the Messiah's 
reign as a literal kingdom upon earth ? What language could 
have been framed that would more certainly have been inter- 
preted in favor of their views ? May we not then set it down 
as settled and clear, that the New Testament, so far from con- 
tradicting the literal statements of the old, or the expectations 
founded thereon, speaks in the same strain, and fans those 
anticipations into greater brightness and intensity? 

* See SVe B ^age 323. 
LI* 



126 THE LAST TIMES. 

V. But again I remark, that the Scriptures explicitly speak 
of the setting up of a kingdom in connection with the Savior's 
final advent, which answers exactly to the literal predictions 
of the ancient prophets which I have quoted, and to the ex- 
pectations of the Jews and his first disciples. Upon this 
point the text itself is conclusive. All agree that it refers to 
the Savior's coming in glory to judge the world, — to his pei- 
sonal coming at the end of the present dispensation. And it 
is here affirmed, with an explicitness which cannot be evaded, 
that at the period of his coming there is to be u given him 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, NATIONS 
and languages should serve him : his dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his king- 
dom that which shall not be destroyed." And that there 
might be no misunderstanding or mistake about the matter, 
an angel explains the vision, and says that the blasphemous 
and persecuting power denoted by the little horn is to prevail 
against the saints until " the judgment shall sit," and then 
"the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
dom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and 
obey him/' These words describe a literal kingdom, a uni- 
versal kingdom, a kingdom under the heavens, over the na- 
tions and tribes of this world, and which is only to be set up 
at the session of the judgment, and the coming of the Son 
of man in the clouds. 

Look also at the vision of the great golden-headed image, and 
the stone cut from the mountains without hands, which smote 
the great image, broke it and filled all the earth. We have there 
an epitome of this world's history : first, the four great mon- 
archies beginning with Babylon, and extending down to the 
sovereignties which now occupy the territory of the ancient 
Roman empire; second, the utter extinction of these monster 



VISION OP THE IMAGE AND THE STONE. 127 

powers during the regency of the ten kingdoms into which 
the Roman empire was ultimately divided; and third, the 
setting up in their place of a divine, universal and eternal 
empire, symbolized by the stone from the mountains. Daniel 
thus interprets the vision : — u In the days of these Icings*' 
— that is, in the days of the kingdoms denoted by the ten 
toes of the great image, during the existence of the Roman 
empire in its last form of ten kindred regencies — " shall the 
God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be de- 
stroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, 
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, 
and it shall stand forever" Some have supposed that the 
introduction of Christianity is here meant ; but Dr. Berg has 
justly remarked that " this view is not tenable." When 
Christianity was introduced, the Roman empire was yet one. 
It was not divided into its ultimate ten parts for hundreds of 
years afterwards. Besides, Christianity is not a kingdom in 
the sense in which the prophet is here using that word. This 
kingdom denoted by the mystic stone, which G-od is to set up, 
and which is to stand forever, is so related to the other king- 
doms mentioned that we must necessarily assign to it some- 
thing of a similar nature. Tillingbast says, " In respect of 
nature, it is the same with the kingdoms represented by the 
great image; i. e. it is outward as they are outward; which 
appears : (1.) From the general scope and drift of the pro- 
phecy, which runs upon outward kingdoms. All the first 
four kingdoms, or monarchies, are outward, as none can deny: 
why then the Holy Ghost, in speaking of the fifth and last, 
should so far vary the scope as to glide from the outward king- 
dom to the inward, ought, besides the bare say-so, to have 
some solid and substantial reason brought for it by those, 
whosoever they are, that either do or shall assert it. (2.) Be- 
cause it is not proper to say that a bare spiritual kingdom, 
considered only as spiritual, should break in pieces, beat to 



128 THE LAST TIMES. . 

very chaff, grind to powder, the great image, i. e. destroy the 
very being of worldly kingdoms, which work is yet, notwith- 
standing, done by this stone. Indeed, Christ's spiritual king- 
dom may, by that light and life which it gives forth, much 
refine and reform outward kingdoms ; but when once the work 
comes to breaking, and breaking in pieces, i. e. subverting 
kingdoms, razing their very foundations and destroying their 
very being, as they the kings of this world are here, unless 
we conceive God to do it by a miracle, must we also conceive 
some other hand besides a spiritual put to the work. (3.) Be- 
cause the stone, to the end there might not be a vacancy in 
the world, comes straightway in the place and room of the 
great image, so soon as the same is totally broken. For as 
the great image, while standing, bears rule over all the earth, 
so the same being broken, the stone becomes a mountain and 
fills the whole earth, therefore must the kingdom of the stone 
be such a kingdom as was that of the great image, viz. : OUT- 
WARD ; or otherwise, the coming of that, in the place of the 
other now taken away, could not supply the want of the 
other." 

This quotation is long, involved and robed in the quaint- 
ness of two centuries ago, but it is perfectly conclusive upon 
the point that the stone-kingdom which God is to set up, and 
which is to consume and destroy all other kingdoms and stand 
forever, is a literal, real, outward, terrestrial empire. The 
time when that kingdom is to be set up is the time when the 
last forms of usurped dominion, denoted by the ten toes of the 
great image, are to be broken in pieces. The ten* toes of that 
image are acknowledged on all hands to be the same as the 
ten-horned wild beast of John. The ten-horned wild beast is 
only to be taken and destroyed when the heavens shall open 
and the Son of God come forth to tread the winepress of God's 
wrath, and give judgment to the martyrs and saints. There- 
fore the coming of Christ is to be attended with the setting 



FURTHER TESTIMONY. 129 

up of a visible, outward, universal, divine and eternal empire, 
such as the Jews associated with the Messianic reign. 

The Savior himself has spoken of the matter to the same 
effect. Hear his words : — " When the Son of man shall 
come IN His glory, and all the holy angels with him, then 

SHALL HE SIT UPON THE THRONE OF HIS GLORY J and before 

him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate 
THEM (the nations) one from another, as a shepherd di- 
videth his sheep from the goats ; and he shall set the sheep 
on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the 
King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world." In the same strain he elsewhere 
says, "They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with 
power and great glory. . . . When ye see these things come 
to pass, know ye that the kingdom OF God is nigh at 
hand." Paul also says to Timothy, "I charge thee there- 
fore before God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge 
the quick and dead at his appearing and kingdom." All 
these passages unequivocally connect the setting up of the 
glorious Messianic kingdom with the Savior's final coming. 

Elsewhere Paul connects the final advent with the sounding 
of "the last trump;" and when we turn to John's vision of 
what attends the sounding of the seventh or last trumpet, we 
read, " There were great voices in heaven, saying, The king- 
doms OF THE WORLD ARE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR 

Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever 
and ever I" And that there might be no misapprehension 
of the time to which this vision relates, the four-and-twenty 
elders respond with thanksgiving that it is " the time of the 
dead that they should be judged," — the time of giving reward 
to the servants of God, the prophets, saints and all that fear 
him, — the time that Christ shall " destroy them that corrupt 
the earth:" (Rev. xi. 15-18.) 



130 THE LAST TIMES. 

Paul a'.so connects the resurrection of the saints with 
Christ's final coming : — " The Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven, and the dead in Christ shah rise first." In this he 
agrees exactly with John's vision of " the first resurrection." 
But in that vision John saw thrones, and the martyrs, the 
blessed and holy seated on them ; and they were made kings 
and priests of God, " and they lived and reigned with Christ 
a thousand years." 

In all these passages we have a literal, universal and abiding 
kingdom ascribed to Christ in connection with his second 
coming. It is not a kingdom far off in the remoteness of 
unknown space, but here in this world. It is to be " under 
heaven" It is to embrace " the kingdoms of the world." 
Its subjects are to be "people, nations and languages." To 
take possession of it, Christ is said to " descend from heaven," 
" come," " appear," and stand again upon the earth. It is 
then of necessity just such a kingdom as the prophets fore- 
told, and as the Jews and apostles expected. It is to be out- 
ward, literal, universal, glorious and eternal- It is not "from 
or out of this world" just as John's baptism was not "from 
or out of this world." It comes from God. It originates 
from above, not from beneath. It is not set up by earthly 
means, but by divine power. But as John baptized on earth, 
although his baptism was not "from this world," and as the 
church is located on earth, although not of the earth, so 
Christ will reign in this world in the sublimities of visible 
empire. We never read of his return to heaven after he 
once comes to this world a second time. He remains here. 
His tabernacle is then to be "with men, and he will dwell 
among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself 
shall be with them." 

This reign of Christ, then, is also to be a personal reign 
He was " made in the likeness of men." He must there- 
fore have a local dwelling-place. As the Son of man he is 



THE GREAT WANT OF OUR RACE. 131 

now in heaven. And when it is said that he tfill come again 
to earth, and dwell with men, we must believe that this world 
will be his home. He cannot dwell and reign on earth as the 
eon of David and not be personally present on the earth. 

Every point, then, at which the Scriptures touch upon this 
subject, furnishes something to corroborate and strengthen our 
doctrine that the Lord Jesus Christ will return again to this 
world, and here set up a literal empire or Christocracy, and 
personally reign over the nations in the bliss and glory of a 
universal and eternal kingdom. The prophecies of the Old 
Testament, taken in their plain natural sense, teach it. 
When Christ was on earth, both Jews and Christians held it. 
The New Testament nowhere condemns it as an error, but in 
many places refers to it as a matter well and correctly under- 
stood j and in the Old Testament and the New we find many 
passages which cannot be consistently interpreted without 
admitting it as a true doctrine of Grod. We cannot, there- 
fore, escape from the conclusion that the blessed and adorable 
Son of the Virgin is yet to reign in this world as a great and 
glorious divine prince, whom all the nations shall obey and 
the world hail as its only King. All the Scriptures proclaim 
it ; the whole creation groans and longs for it ; and I cannot 
but believe it. Next to the doctrine of atonement for the 
world's guilt, it is the dearest of all the revealments of God. 

To this hour, the greatest desideratum of our race is good 
government, — government freed from the frailties and unright- 
eousness which have ever adhered to that department of human 
interest. The church, too, is crippled, torn and disordered, 
for want of some present divine umpire to judge between its 
contending sects, purge out its ambitious disturbers and quell 
its feverish perturbations. All nature seems to have heard 
the promise concerning the seed of the woman and his restora- 
tive empire, and has stood in anxious expectancy ever since. 
All the world, in all its departments, has been longing and 



132 THE LAST TIMES. 

prophesying for ages, for a divine Deliverer, and the age of 
gold which his administrations are to bring with them. And 
yet he has not come. I do not, indeed, deny that Christ now 
reigns in the hearts of his children, or that he exercises a 
providential control over the affairs of the world. I know and 
rejoice that there is a sense in which he is present now, even 
where but two or three are assembled in his name; and that 
wherever a sinner turns to Grod, there something of his regal 
authority and power are felt. But I also know, that, with all 
his spiritual and providential presence and rule, as now in the 
world, every thing is imperfect as compared with the promises 
of what is to be hereafter. Satan, for the most part, is yet 
the king and master of this world, and not the illustrious Son 
of David. Every thing in church and state, public and pri- 
vate, is more or less disjointed, weak, sickly, and failing of 
what we most desire. Remedies only multiply wants and de- 
fects. " That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and 
that which is wanting cannot be numbered. " The best- 
planned institutions and the wisest laws are constantly dis- 
appointing us. The holy law itself was "weak through the 
flesh;" and the same is to be said of all that we now have. 
No one adequately fulfills or can fulfill his relations. The con- 
sciences even of the best Christians, if properly enlightened, 
continually reproach them. Every thing seems to feel the 
absence of its redeeming Lord. He does not yet reign as it is 
necessary for us that he should reign. " We see not yet all 
things put under him." Matters now are only in a stage pre- 
paratory to something still beyond us. The throne of David 
is yet less than a cipher. The promised Son has not yet lifted 
it out of its degradation. Mount Zion is still trodden by the 
vile foot of the destroyer. Israel, that is to be redeemed and 
become the standard-bearer of ransomed nations, is still scat- 
tered over all the earth. The enemies of God still vaunt 
themselves over his Anointed. Ignorance, fanaticism and 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD. 133 

infidelity still stalk abroad, even through the church. The 
man of sin, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that 
is called God, still sits in the temple of God. Great Babylon 
still stands, drunk as she is with the blood of the saints. The 
wild beast and the false prophet are still allied against the 
Lamb, and against the witnesses of Jesus. Evil men and 
seducers are still waxing worse and worse. Despotism and 
tyranny still hold the places which justice and charity alone 
should fill. "War and bloodshed still devastate and deluge this 
poor fallen world. Rapine and plunder still press their foul 
trade on land and on sea. Ambition, intrigue, finesse and de- 
ceit still hold disgraceful sway in the best parliaments and 
legislatures on earth. Scoffers abound everywhere, walking 
after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His 
coming? The wails of suffering and wretchedness still float 
on every breeze ; and the cries of wronged millions still go up 
into the ear of Jehovah. 

Oh, tell me not that this is the glorious reign of Messiah ! 
Tell me not that these are the scenes to which the saints of 
old looked with so much joy ! I will not so disgrace my 
Savior or his word, as to allow for a moment that this dispen- 
sation is the sublime Messianic kingdom. No, no, no; Christ 
does not yet reign in the kingdom which he has promised and 
for which he has taught us to pray. Isaiah and Gabriel have 
said, that he should occupy the throne of his father David, and 
reign over the house of Jacob, and establish his government 
in eternal peace and righteousness; but David's sceptre he has 
never held, over Jacob's house he has never ruled, and the 
whole world is yet full of iniquity and wo. The Psalmist has 
taught us that " all nations shall serve him, the Gentiles be his 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth his posses- 
sion;" but there is not a nation in all this wide world that is 
thoroughly Christian, and not a people who unanimously 
acknowledge that Christ is Lord. Of the ten hundred mil- 



134 THE LAST TIMES. 

lions of souls that now constitute the family of man, not two- 
fifths are even professedly Christian! Take from the most 
Christian community — take from among the highly-favored 
inhabitants of our own city — all who are not of the household 
of faith, and what a scanty population would remain !. Take 
the most enlightened and cultivated of the nations : take Eng- 
land — take Saxony — take our own country — take the model 
nation of Christendom, containing the most churches, and the 
greatest number of devout people : examine the structure of 
its government, test the operations of its laws, sift the char- 
acter of its inhabitants, weigh it in the balances of Scripture 
truth and divine requirements, aggregate its good and its evil, 
strike the balance between righteousness and iniquity, and 
then tell me whether there is a nation on all the globe that 
does not gravitate towards hell rather than towards heaven ! 
The church itself, enclosing within its pale all the purest and 
holiest specimens of humanity, after the toils and prayers of 
eighteen centuries, is still a feeble craft, working against wind 
and tide ! Where, then, is that universal righteousness, peace 
and glory which gave inspiration to the songs of the prophets 
and hope to the souls of the dying saints of old? The reign 
of Messiah is to be a reign of glory, power and triumph, 
where vice is unknown and iniquity at an end, — where the 
branch from the root of Jesse is to strike all enemies dead 
and the Sun of righteousness disperse all darkness forever, — 
where all nations shall serve, worship and obey the King of 
Israel, and the earth shout the alleluia of her ultimate re- 
demption; and it is worse than useless to try to persuade 
ourselves that such a condition of things belongs to this dis- 
pensation. 

Nor is there any thing by way of inference from the past, 
or from indications of the present, or even in the sublime 
promises of the word of God, by which to assure ourselves 
that* such a condition of things ever will be realized until the 



"ALL THINGS NEW." 135 

personal return of the blessed Christ for whom we wait. It is 
only ivhcn he shall come, that he will sit upon the throne of his 
glory. Antichrist shall not die till then. The world will not 
be fully redeemed till then. The glorious kingdom will not 
come till then. That is the grand climacteric of our faith ; 
that is the sublime ultimatum of all our hopes. 

Long, long has this great consummation been delayed, — so 
long that even pious men begin to doubt whether it ever shall 
come. But the word of Jehovah is out; he cannot recall it; 
he must fulfill it. Soon it will be here. Soon shall Messiah 
come in his glory, and set this imprisoned and down-trodden 
world at liberty. Soon shall the Son of Mary stand upon the 
Mount of Olives and plant his throne upon the hill of Zion. 
Soon shall the glorified saints supplant besotted politicians, 
and the swelling tide of righteousness and peace overflow the 
earth. Soon shall the new-born nations send up their delega- 
tions to Jerusalem to worship the King in his beauty, and go 
forth with joy in the blessedness of obedience to him. 

Men may scoff, and say that we are degrading the blessed 
Savior to a level with earthly monarchs, and surrounding him 
with the miserable trappings of their foul courts. They may 
ridicule us, and say that we are dragging down the throne of 
Heaven's King to place it amid graves, almshouses, hospitals, 
penitentiaries, labor-prisons, sickly cities, and worn-out states 
But they forget that the promise is that Christ shall " make 
ALL things new," and banish forever all these evidences and 
emblems of depravity and sin. They forget that death is to 
be swallowed up of life, and the whole sentence of the world's 
curse forever rescinded. They forget that all tears are to be 
dried, and that there is to be no more death, nor sorrow, nor 
crying, nor tears, nor any more pain, nor any more sin, within 
all the domain of Messiah's eternal dominion. Oh, that 
Christians did but look at these things as God has presented 
them, and lay hold of the promises which he has given to 



136 THE LAST TIMES. 

encourage us. Then would they go forth to duty with greater 
earnestness and intenser joy. Then would they pray, with 
fonder hope, "Thy Kingdom come!" and ever and anon 
respond, "Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus I" 



MARANATHA ! 

Christ is coming ! let creation 
Bid her groans and travail cease : 

Let the glorious proclamation 

Hope restore, and faith increase : — 

Maranatha J 
Come, thou blessed Prince of Peace ! 

Earth can now but tell the story 

Of thy bitter cross and pain ; 
She shall yet behold thy glory, 

When thou comest back to reign : — 
Maranatha ! 

Let each heart repeat the strain ! 

Though once cradled in a manger, 

Oft no pillow but the sod, 
Here an alien and a stranger, 

Mocked of men, disowned of God,— 
All creation 

Yet shall own thy kingly rod. 

Long thy exiles have been pining, 
Far from rest, and home, and thee; 

But, in heavenly vesture shining, 
Soon they shall thy glory see : — 

Maranatha ! 
Haste the joyous jubilee ! 

With that " blessed hope" before us, 

Let no harp remain UDstrung; 
Let the mighty advent-chorus 

Onward roll from tongue to tongua : — 

Maranatha ! 
Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come ! 

J. R. Macduff. 



SIXTH DISCOUESE. 



THE JUDGMENT — SCRIPTURAL IDEA OF A JUDGE — THE DAY OP 

JUDGMENT NOT AN ORDINARY DAY OF TWEftTY-FOUR HOURS THE 

JUDGMENT PROGRESSIVE CONNECTION OF THE JUDGMENT WITH THE 

MILLENNIAL REIGN IS THE EXECUTION OF ADJUDICATIONS ALREADY 

GOING ON HOW IT WILI BE INTRODUCED — ADMONITIONS TO THE 

CARELESS 



Ecclesiastes xii. 14 : For God shall bring every work into judg- 
ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be 
evil. 

We now approach one of the most difficult subjects in the 
Bible, and one which, perhaps, is the least understood, and 
the most imperfectly apprehended, of all the great revelations 
of Grod. Poetry and imagination have* undertaken to portray 
its imposing sublimity; but all such efforts have tended to 
bewilder and deceive rather than to instruct. The truth is, 
that poets for theologians, and painters for commentators, are 
about the poorest guides that a Christian can select. There 
is a spirituality and supernatural vastness in divine things 
which cannot be given in pictures, and which no earthly 
imagery can reach. The external groupings and drapery 
with which fancy deals very often have little or no connection 
with the truths they are designed to illustrate. I propose, 
therefore, to dispense entirely with the popular, pictorial and 
poetic method of contemplating the great theme of the text, 
and to approach it more in the style in which the Scriptures 
present it. 

Long has the cry, " A day of judgment! a day of judg- 

is* 137 



138 THE LAST TIMES. 

ment I" been heard in our world. Even before the death of 
Adam, there rose up a prophet, saying, " Behold, the Lord 
cometh, with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment 
upon all." Few, indeed, regard the solemn prediction. Many 
live as if it were all a fable. Thousands scoff at it as an idle 
dream. But the truth is not altered by man's forgetfulness 
or unbelief. Refusing to think of the subject cannot retard 
the chariot-wheels of the avenging King of Zion. He 
moves on steadily to the accomplishment of his great designs, 
undismayed and unmolested by the thoughtlessness, the 
skepticism or the rebellion of mortals. Some will not believe 
that the earth revolves on its axis, or that it moves in a circuit 
round the sun ; but that does not change the facts, or stop 
the world in its revolutions. And whether men believe it or 
not, judgment will come. Accountability is woven in with 
our very being. It is a primordial condition of our nature. 
It grows out of the necessities of our very existence. It 
surrounds the child from its first consciousness. It lies upon 
us in the circle of friendship. It cleaves to us as citizens of 
the state. And we certainly cannot rid ourselves of it as 
members of the great household of God's rational creation. 
And where there is accountability, there must be adjudication. 
Every family, social circle, church, state, or empire, must 
needs have its tribunal, in effect if not in form, by which 
decisions are decreed and judgment executed. And surely it 
is not to be supposed that the great Father and King of all 
has failed to establish this indispensable requisite to all 
government. 

.We also find in man, either as the result of common reason, 
or an original implantation in human nature, a something 
which is ever reminding us that we must encounter righteous 
retribution somewhere, at some time or other. We bear with 
us, in the deep recesses of our souls, a sort of premonitory 
sense of comir.g judgment. Every man has his spiritual 



SCRIPTURAL CONCEPTION OF " JUDGE." 139 

fears, apprehensions and misgivings, which are most solemnly 
prophetic. A good man feels that it must be well with him 
in the end; and a bad man cannot be at peace in his own 
heart, or rest with abiding composure upon his confidence of 
safety. Reason as we may, there is still some deeply-seated 
conviction of the soul, which seems to be a part of itself, 
which rises up to assert our responsibility with a power that 
no argument can resist and no logic overcome. 

We may therefore take it as a fixed verity, not only asserted 
in the Scriptures, but abundantly confirmed by the nature of 
things, that "God shall bring every work into judgment, 
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it 
be evil." 

We are not, however, to conceive of this judgment as a mere 
assize, or court, sitting only at a specific time, for the hearing 
and determination of causes that have been long accumulating. 
Something of this sort is remotely implied in what the Scrip- 
tures say of the matter ; but such an assize furnishes a very 
imperfect and inadequate idea of the great judgment. The 
Scriptural conception of & judge is not simply that of a jurist 
on the bench, but that of a ruler or king reigning in right- 
eousness, guiding and blessing his loyal subjects, and avenging 
them of their enemies. Just call to mind the reign of " the 
judges" in the time of Sampson, Gideon, Jephtha, Eli, Samuel, 
and others, who are said to have "judged Israel." In what 
did their office of judging consist? Brown, in his Dictionary, 
has evidently given it correctly, where he- says, "These judges 
had the sole management of peace and war, and decided" causes 
with an absolute authority. They executed the laws, reformed 
or protected religion, and punished idolaters and other male- 
factors ; and were much the same as the archons of Athens, 
the dictators of Rome, the suffetes of Carthage, and the gov- 
ernors of Germany, Gaul and Britain before the Roman 
invasion." Thej were, then, sovereign princes; and in that 



140 THE LAST TIMES. 

sovereignty we have the Scriptural idea of & judge. He is 
one who rules the people, subdues their enemies, punishes 
evil-doers and administers the affairs of government. Hence, 
when the Hebrews appointed a king to reign over them, they 
cabled him a judge, and called his administration judging. 
Read the eighth cnapter of the First Book of Samuel. You will 
there find that " all the elders of Israel" said, "Make us A 
KING TO judge US ;" — " We will have a Icing over us, that 
we also may be like all other nations, and that our king may 
JUDGE US, and go out before us and jlght our battles." 
Their conception of judgeship was that of kingly rule. Hence, 
when the Scriptures speak of judgment, they very often 
add expressions which show that they connect with it the 
general idea of government, and identify it with sovereign 
control and gubernatorial administrations. "Let the nations 
be glad/' says the Psalmist, "and sing for joy; for thou shalt 
judge the people righteously, and GOVERN THE NATIONS upon 
earth." Isaiah says, " Unto us a Son is given, and the gov- 
ernment shall be upon his shoulder. ... Of the increase of 
his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the 
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to 
establish it with judgment and with justice forever." 
"Behold, a king shall reign and prosper, and shall EXECUTE 
judgment in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, 
and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby 
he shall be called : — The Lord Our Righteousness. And he 
shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations 
afar off: and thev shall beat their swords intc ploughshares 
and their spears into pruning-hooks." Jesus says, "Ye 
which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 
twelve thrones, judging (governing) the twelve tribes of 
Israel." Paul says, ''The saints shall judge the ivorld;" and 
this judgeship of the saints is explained in the Apocalypse, 



MEANING OF "DAY OF JUDGMENT." 141 

where the Saviour says, "He that overcometh, and keepeth my 
works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, 
and he shall rule them." All these passages evidently 
refer to the last grand administrations of God, — to the judg- 
ment. And you will readily perceive from them that the 
Scriptural idea of a judge is one who exercises sovereign rule, 
one who administers the laws, governs the people, avenges 
them of their enemies, guides them in peace and safety, and 
punishes evil-doers. 

In a general sense, then, and as presenting a key to this 
•yhole subject, we might say that the judgment of God is the 
administration of the government of God. 

It is, therefore, also erroneous for us to conceive of the 
judgment as limited to one day of twelve or twenty-four 
hours. We indeed read of "the day of judgment" and that 
the Lord hath "appointed a day in the which he will judge 
the world." But the word " day" is often used, both in the 
Old and New Testaments, and also in common conversation, to 
signify much larger periods of time than the seventh part of a 
week. In the first chapter of Genesis it is used six times, to 
denote six different epochs of the creation. In these cases, 
some take it to mean an ordinary day; but the majority of 
learned men think that it means a thousand years, or six 
thousand years ; and that the six days of the creation include 
six, thirty-six, or even a much greater number of thousand 
years. How this is we know not; but in the next chapter 
we read of u the day that the Lord made the earth and the 
heavens, and every plant of the field." Here the whole 
period of the creation, which geologists think includes 
myriads of years, is called a day. So the forty years of 
wandering in the wilderness is called "the day of temp- 
tation," — " the day that God brought them up out of Egypt." 
Isaiah sails the whole period of the Messiah's reign u his 
day" And Peter, in direct reference tc "the day of judg- 



142 THE LAST TIMES. 

merit," exhorts us not to be ignorant " that one day is with 
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
day." I make these remarks to show that nothing can be 
inferred from the word day, as applied to the judgment, by 
which to limit it to twenty-four hours, or to any other brief 
period of time. The day of creation means simply the time 
of the creation. The day of Israel's pilgrimage is the time 
of the pilgrimage. The day of the Messiah is the time of 
the Messiah. And so u the day of judgment" is merely the 
time of judgment, whether it be a week or year, a hundred or 
a thousand years, or as many years as there are days in a 
thousand years. Hence, Joseph Mede, whom Professor Bush 
pronounces " one of the profoundest Biblical scholars of the 
English church/' remarks, that "it is to be remembered that 
the Jews, who gave to this time the name of the day of judg- 
ment, and from whom our Savior and his apostles took it, 
never understood thereby any thing but a time of many years 7 
continuance." 

The truth is, that the Scriptures present the judgment as a 
progressive thing, which began with the expulsion of Adam 
from Paradise, which is to some extent continually going on, 
and which will finally reach its entire consummation in the 
advent and administrations of the Son of man, when an utter 
end shall be made of all disorder and sin, and the pious of all 
ages enter upon the full fruition of the honors and joys which 
Grod has covenanted unto them. Paul calls it " eterial 
judgment," not only because its results shall be permanent, 
but more particularly because it continues perpetually. God 
is ever and anon dealing out retributions and deliverances, 
which are the steps and preludes to the more complete and 
ever-augmenting awards of eternity. The Bible distinctly 
teaches this. Jesus says, " He that believeth on the Son is 
not condemned ; but he that believeth not is condemned (is 
judged) already, because he hath not believed in the name 



THE JUDGMENT PROGRESSIVE. 143 

of the only -begotten Son of God." All agree that whenever 
a sinner repents and accepts of Christ as the great and only 
Savior, he is at that moment justified; but justification is 
altogether a judicial transaction. When the Savior was yet 
on earth, he said, "Now is the judgment of this world;" — 
" The prince of this world is judged." When God went 
through Egypt, and smote all the first-born of man and beast, 
it is said that he executed judgment upon them : (Gen. xv. 
14; Ex. xii. 12.) The revelation of his avenging arm 
against proud Babylon, and the deliverance of Israel from 
its power, is described in the same way : (Jer. li. 47 ; 
Ezek. xxxix. 21.) And so every interposition of God to 
enforce the principles of his government, either by way of 
punishing his enemies or delivering his people, is called 
judgment, and is really a part and earnest of the one great 
eternal judgment which is to be consummated in the coming 
and administrations of the blessed Jesus. Thus the imme- 
diate consequences of death are also called " the judgment," 
(Heb. ix. 27,) because there is then a broader line of dis- 
tinction drawn between the good and the wicked, and God's 
government goes into further effect in giving over the one 
class to wander in the darkness or* their alienation from 
holiness, and taking the other class into peace and rest. 

But all these adjudications are but the beginnings of the 
judgment, whilst there is reserved a still future series of ad- 
ministrations by which they are to be carried on to eternal 
completeness. Hence, we read that " God hath appointed a 
day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, 
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given 
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." The Lord Jesus himself is to return again to the 
earth, to take the entire dominion of the world, and to ad- 
minister justice and judgment to the quick and to the dead 
according to his gospel. In this great judgment, of which all 



144 THE LAST TIMES. 

otters are but the foretastes and the earnest, "the Father 
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the 
Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor 
the Father." " For, as the Father hath life in himself, so 
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath 
given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is 
the Son of man/' 

Considering, then, that the Scriptural idea of a judge is 
that of a sovereign prince administering righteous govern- 
ment, that the ultimate administrations of judgment are given 
entirely into the hands of Jesus as the Son of man, and that 
Jesus is to return to this world to reign here in a glorious and 
universal empire, under which iniquity is to be finally ex- 
punged and made to give place to eternal righteousness and 
peace, we are prepared for the announcement, that the time 
of the judgment is the time of Christ's coming and reign upon 
earth, and that the final judgment itself is nothing more nor 
less than the sovereign ministrations of the descended Jesus 
as the sovereign of the world. 

Now, this reign of Christ is really eternal. It is every- 
where so spoken of in the Scriptures. " Of the increase of 
his government and peace there shall be no end." "His 
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." "It shall stand for- 
ever." But there is one period in this sublime reign which 
is especially marked in the prophecies of God. That period 
is the first thousand years of its existence, or the millennium. 
Until these first thousand years are over, the divine purposes 
will not be entirely fulfilled. It is only at the expiration of 
this thousand years that the last rebellion is to be put down, 
and the second resurrection accomplished. It is this thousand 
years, then, and especially the adjudications by which they are 
to be introduced and concluded, which constitute the day of 
judgment. It will have its morning and its evening, like 
every other day. Its morning is the period of Christ's "com- 



ITS CONNECTION WITH THE MILLENNIAL REIGN. 145 

ing and kingdom," when he will raise the sleeping saints, 
change the pious living, assign all the faithful their places in 
his holy and eternal empire, and break down and destroy 
every thing that stands in the way of the establishment of his 
princely reign over all the nations of the earth. Its evening 
is the close of the millennial era, when the last revolt under 
Gog and Magog shall be destroyed, the devil cast into the pit 
of destruction, and all the unsanctified dead delivered over to 
the second death. In other words, there is a duality in the 
judgment of the great day, just as there is a duality in the 
resurrection, in the law, in the book of Revelation, in the na- 
ture of Christ, in the destiny of men, in the Savior's advent, 
and in many other things of which the Bible speaks. 

After long and prayerful study of the subject, then, it 
seems to me that the first thousand years of the Messiah's 
personal reign is the period which the Scriptures style by emi- 
nence "the day of judgment" and that the great judgment 
itself is nothing more nor less than those wonderful adminis- 
trations of the coming Son of Mary, by which he will set up 
his visible kingdom, and eventually shut up all its enemies 
in everlasting death. 

It is certain, my brethren, that the Scriptures do unequivo- 
cally connect the judgment with Christ's occupancy of the 
throne which he is to receive at his second coming. Maton 
has remarked, that "we may justly doubt whether our Savior 
hath as yet executed the office of king." He exercises, 
indeed, a partial sovereignty in men's hearts; "yet, that he 
doth not now reign in that kingdom which he shall govern as 
man, and consequently in that of which the prophets spake, 
his own words in Rev. iii. 21 do clearly prove : ' To him that 
overcometh I will grant to sit with me in my throne/ &c, 
from whence it follows that the throne which he here calls his 
own, and which he hath not yet received, (Heb. ii. 8, 10, 12, 
13,) must needs belong to him as man : because the place 
K 13 



146 THE LAST TIMES. 

where he now sits is the Father's throne, — a throne in which 
he has no proper interest but as GJ-od. Again, it follows, that 
seeing he is now in his Father's throne, therefore neither is 
this the time nor the place in which his own throne is to be 
erected." I have shown you, in a previous discourse, that 
Christ's throne is the throne of his father David, which is in 
this world. I know of no Scripture which assigns to Christ 
any throne as his own but this. And the judgment is specifi- 
cally connected with his sitting upon his own throne at his 
coming. He says himself, " When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory, and in his presence shall all 
nations be placed together, and he shall separate them {the 
nations) one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats." Here are judicial administrations; and 
those proceedings are attributed to Christ as the Son of man, 
seated upon his own throne, and dealing with nations in this 
world, to whom as the Son of man he is present. 

In Daniel we read of the coming of the Son of man, to be 
invested with a kingdom, in which " nations and languages" 
are to serve him ; which kingdom is to break in pieces all 
other kingdoms, and take away, destroy and consume the do- 
minion of the blasphemous power that made war with the 
saints ; yet these administrations of the enthroned Jesus are 
called "the judgment," — the sitting of the judgment. 

Of this same Messiah that was born of Mary, Isaiah says, 
that he shall bear rule " upon the throne of David, to order 
it and establish it" — how? — "with judgment." The 
judgment, then, and the Messiah's reign are things which go 
together. Again, he says of Christ, "A King shall reign and 
prosper, and shall execute judgment in the earth. ,} Here the 
reign of Christ is set forth as the judgment of the world by 
him. So also says the Psalmist: — "He shall judge the people 
righteously, even govern the nations upon earth." 



AUTHORITIES. 147 

What do these passages mean, if they do not speak of the 
judgment of the world by Christ as identical with the ad- 
ministrations of his personal reign as the Son of man ? Con- 
sider, also, once more, what he himself said to the apostles : — 
u When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, 
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel " It is evident that this judgeship of the apostles 
and saints is rulership. The Savior here says that their judge- 
ship is to be of the same kind, nay, an actual part of his own. 
As, then, the judgeship of the apostles and saints is their reign 
with Christ over the nations, so his judgeship and his reign are 
one and the same thing, and the judgment and the adminis- 
trations of the Messianic kingdom are identical. 

Hence, also, Christ's coming to judge the world is called 
the coming of his kingdom. Jesus says, "There shall be 
signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon 
earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the 
waves thereof roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and 
for looking after those things that are coming on the earth; 
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and when ye 
shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that the king- 
dom of God is nigh at hand." And in the Apocalypse it is 
distinctly announced that " the time of wrath, and the time 
of the dead, that they should be judged and reward given to 
the prophets, saints and all that fear God," is identical with 
the time when " the kingdoms of the world become the king- 
doms of our Lord, and of his Christ •" all of which goes to 
show that the judgment is the same with the establishment of 
the Savior's reign upon earth as the Son of David. 

Joseph Farmer argues the same thing from Rev. xx. 4. He 
says that " the kingdom wherein the saints reign with Christ 
a thousand years, is the same with the kingdom of the Son of 
man, and the saints of the Most High in Daniel ; therefore, 
it also begins at the great day of judgment, which is not con- 



148 THE LAST TIMES. 

sunimated till Gog and Magog's destruction at their end; 
therefore, the ichole thousand years is included in that great 
day of judgment. The resurrection of the just will take 
place in the morning of the day of judgment, or beginning of 
the thousand years." 

Dr. Thomas Goodwin, one of the great patriarchs of English 
Independency, also has this, remark, that " there is a special 
world, (which is the present world in its future renewed form,) 
called the world to come, appointed for Jesus Christ eminently 
to reign in, between this world and the end of the day of 
judgment," and that u the day of judgment itself is part, if 
not the tohole, of the time wherein our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ shall reign" 

And Mede, from 2 Pet. iii. 8, considers it settled, that the 
day of judgment is the thousand years' reign of Christ. He 
thus paraphrases that passage : — " Whereas, I mentioned the 
day of judgment, lest ye might take it for a short day, or a 
day of a few hours, I would not, beloved, have you ignorant 
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
sand years as one day." 

I feel myself, therefore, fully warranted, by the infallible 
authority of Holy Scripture, and by the authority of men who 
have gone most profoundly into the investigation of this sub- 
ject, in maintaining that the great consummating judgment 
is nothing more nor less than the administrations of the Son 
of man, in taking to himself the throne of his father David, 
and establishing his sublime kingdom triumphant over all 
his foes. 

And this judgment is just the carrying into full effect of 
all previous administrations of God with man. The righteous 
are now justified, accepted and adopted as the children of 
God; and the wicked are condemned already; but these 
things are not yet fully manifest. The sentence is not yet 
entirely enforced in either case. As to those who have 



HOW "THE JUDGMENT" WILL COMMENCE. 149 

passed into the world of departed spirits, there is a greater 
enforcement of the present divine adjudications than we 
have in this life. But still Paul tells us that the full mani- 
festation of the sons of God is reserved until the period of 
the resurrection and redemption of the body; and that the 
full perdition of the ungodly is deferred to the same or some 
subsequent period. The sentence upon good and bad is 
already passed; but it will not be fully executed until the 
great day of Christ's coming and kingdom. Paul did not 
expect his crown until then. Peter did not look for the per- 
dition of ungodly men until then. And the great administra- 
tions of that day will consist in the distribution of blessings 
and curses already awarded. It will simply be the consum- 
mation of adjudications already existing, — the completion of 
processes even now begun. The resurrection of the saints is 
not so much a resurrection for the purpose of being judged, 
as the execution of judicial decisions which already exist. 
The same is true of the resurrection of the wicked. The 
one class are to rise in glory, and the other class in shame and 
contempt. The resurrection of the saints is to occur a thou- 
sand years previous to the resurrection of the wicked. The 
resurrection itself, then, is a judicial administration; and the 
judgment, instead of being confined to scenes after the resur- 
rection, is going on now, and takes in a long series of transac- 
tions already begun, but which will only be consummated by 
the awards of eternity. And when these eternal awards are 
made, it will be but the ultimate effect of proceedings which 
are at present in progress. 

From these considerations, it follows that the introduction 
of " the day of judgment" will be very different from what 
is often supposed. As the judgment consists in the adminis- 
trations of the glorious Messianic kingdom, and that kingdom 
is to extend over nations and men in the flesh, its first symp- 
toms and manifestations will be found in the existing living 

13* 



150 THE LAST TIMES. 

world. The Savior plainly tells us that " there shall be upon 
the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the 
waves thereof roaring j" great popular and revolutionary dis- 
turbances ; " men's hearts failing them for fear, and for look- 
ing after those things that are coming upon the earth j for 
the powers of heaven shall be shaken." These words describe 
scenes of the judgment, which are to be witnessed before the 
visible manifestation of Christ, — scenes which will glide in 
upon the world without the least suspicion on the part of men 
generally that they are the beginnings of the great judgment. 
By looking at the various changes that have already occurred 
in God's earthly administrations, we find that when one dis- 
pensation was exchanged for another they overlapped each 
other. The new always began before the old reached its con- 
clusion. The two interpenetrated each other, so that the 
new began within the old, and the old ran far into the new. 
The Jewish system was not overthrown when Christ was born, 
nor yet when the dispensation of the Spirit commenced at 
the day of Pentecost. The old system still stood for many 
years, so that many were both Jews and Christians at the 
same time. And so it will doubtless be when the millennial 
or judgment era begins. It will commence within the world 
that now is. David was an exact type of that future Son of 
his who is to execute justice and judgment on his throne. 
But David was the anointed king long before Saul's power 
was broken and taken from him ; and the processes by which 
he ultimately came to possess the throne which God had given 
him in Saul's stead consisted of wars, slaughters and destruc- 
tions. And so in the setting up of the judgment-throne of 
Christ, our David, there will be corresponding troubles and 
devastations. All other kingdoms must be broken in pieces 
and consumed before the kingdom of God will be fully set up. 
They must be broken with a rod of iron, and dashed in pieces 
as a potter's vessel. All existing orders of things must be 



THE SIGNS OF ITS PRESENCE. 151 

shaken down and destroyed. " Babylon" must fall. u The 
vials of the wrath of God" must be poured out upon the 
earth, overwhelming mankind with trouble, deluging empires 
in blood, and gathering the kings of the world to the war of 
the great day of God Almighty, when they shall come to 
their end, and none shall help them. He that is called 
" Faithful and True" must "judge and make war," and " smite 
the nations," and "tread the winepress of the fierceness and 
wrath of Almighty God." And all these things relate to 
nations, tribes and confederations of men as they now live in 
the flesh, and will doubtless be felt and manifested long be- 
fore men generally are at all acquainted with what is going 
on. Thoughtful people will wonder at the amazing upheav^, 
ings of society around them ; they will tremble at the mighty 
agitations which trouble and confuse every thing in church 
and state ; they will grow pale at the gigantic moves of revo- 
lutionists and military despots ; and their hearts shall fail them 
as they attempt to look forward to what the results of all 
shall be. Some will call it progress; some will call it the 
result of wrong education of the masses; some will look 
upon it as the work of ambitious or mistaken legislation ; 
some will think it is liberty rising from her sleep of ages to 
take dominion of the world. And a thousand theologians, 
philosophers and jurists will have as many different solutions 
of the great problem of what is coming upon the earth, with- 
out once striking upon the real truth that the day of judgment. _ 
^has begun. Signs and wonders shall exist on every hand; 
but unsuspecting mortals will point to a thousand natural 
causes as explanations, and bigoted sectarians will refuse to 
believe even their own senses. And the world, in all its de- 
partments, with here and there a few who are faithful to what 
God hath written for our learning, shall drift on to dissolution 
without knowing what is actually transpiring. 

But some one will ask, Shall we not see Christ when he 



152 THE LAST TIMES 

comes, and thus be advised when the great day. of judgment 
begins ? Yes, " every eye shall see him •" but not necessarily 
at the same time, and only when he shall come " with all his 
saints with him;" and all his saints cannot be with him until 
after the pious dead are raised, and the pious living trans- 
lated. I have found no Scripture which, when construed with 
its corresponding passages, says a word about Christ's visibility 
or appearance previous to the resurrection of the saints. On 
the contrary, we are repeatedly told that the day of judgment 
shall come "as a thief in the night." And how does a thief 
come ? He not only comes stealthily, and at such an hour as 
we think not, but he is already on the premises, in the house 
and doing his work, before we are aware of his presence. 
And so shall it be with the coming of Christ and the day of 
judgment. He will be here gathering and removing his elect 
before the world shall have become aware of it. 

But another will ask, Shall not the trumpet sound, and will 
not that tell us when the judgment begins ? Yes, " the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
and we shall be changed ;" but it is not such a trumpet as all 
men shall hear and understand. Paul calls it " the last 
trump." A last trumpet implies other trumpets before the 
last, just as the Scriptures elsewhere tell us. In the tenth 
chapter of Revelation, it is announced that " in the days of 
the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, 
the mystery of Grod shall be finished, as he has declared to his 
servants the prophets." To understand what is meant by this 
" seventh angel," and his " voice," we must look at the eighth 
chapter, where John says, " I saw seven angels which stood 
before God; and to them were given seven trumpets." He 
then heard each of these angels, one after another, sound his 
trumpet. The sounding of the seventh is therefore u the last 
trumpet." And that this seventh trumpet of John is "the 
last trump" of Paul is evident from the events which are 






THE LAST TRUMPET. 153 

attributed to the sounding of both. Paul says of " the last 
trump," that when it sounds " the dead shall be raised and 
we shall be changed." All agree that it refers to the period 
of the judgment. And so also when John's "seventh angel" 
sounded his trumpet, "there were great voices in heaven, say- 
ing, The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and of his Christ j and he shall reign forever and 
ever. And the four-and-twenty elders worshipped God, say- 
ing, Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they 
should be JUDGED." 

The last trumpet, then, or the trumpet which is to usher in 
the scenes of the judgment, is just such a trumpet as were the 
six that preceded it ; and its sounding is to be understood in 
the same way that they sounded. And, fortunately, these 
six trumpets have already sounded. We can point directly to 
the several events to which they refer. The first four relate 
to the several invasions of the Goths, Vandals and Scythians 
who laid waste the Roman empire. The fifth refers to the 
Saracenic wo, inflicted by Mohammed and his fierce armies. 
The sixth introduced the woes inflicted by the Tartar tribes 
or Turks in their furious devastations. Such, at any rate, 
are the applications which the best interpreters have made of 
these parts of the Bible, and I see no reason to doubt their 
correctness. They certainly refer to occurrences of this kind 
that have already transpired upon earth, none of which have 
been ushered in by audible signals from the heavens. The 
trumpets belong simply to the scenery on the panorama by 
which these events were brought before the apostle's view, and 
not to the events themselves. And, as there was no audible, 
startling, miraculous, wide-sounding, celestial bugle-note to 
announce to the world the fulfillment of the predictions con- 
nected with the six trumpets, so I infer and conclude that 
there is to be no audible trumpet-blast from mid-heaven to 
inform the world when the day of judgment has come. For 



154 THE LAST TIMES. 

aught you or I know, the last trump has already sounded, or 
is now sounding, in the changes which have been occurring 
within the last fifty years, in the mysterious symptoms of 
revolution which are everywhere so ominously manifest, in 
the judgments of God, and the sermons and books of his 
servants, crying, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh!" Com- 
mencing as it probably does with the end of the 1260 year- 
days of the dominancy of the Papal Antichrist, we must now 
be near, if not within, the period of its sounding. It docs 
not connect with a mere instant of time, but, like the other 
trumpets, takes in a space of years, which begins with the fall 
of Papal power, and includes the seven last vials of the wrath 
of God, under which Christ comes as a thief, gathers his saints 
from their graves, translates his waiting people, and inflicts 
upon Satan and his adherents his terrific judgments. 

But shall we not see the dead rising when the day of 
judgment comes ? It may be that the resurrected saints 
shall appear to the saints then living, and converse with 
them, before they are caught up into the clouds; but there 
is no proof in Scripture that men generally will see or know 
of their resurrection. No one saw Christ rise; and his 
saints may come from their graves as quietly and invisibly 
as they now sleep in them. And when the process of 
the translation of the living commences, it will no doubt 
be like the resurrection to which it corresponds. It will 
not be with great pomp and public demonstrations, but 
quietly and in a manner hardly understood by those that 
remain. The unbelieving multitudes may be startled at 
accounts of the missing here and there, who, like Enoch, 
shall not be, because God took them; but sage skeptics 
will soon invent some new theory of spontaneous combus- 
tion, or something else, to account for the mysterious disap- 
pearances, and but few men will, perhaps, suspect what is 
really going on. Unsanctified preachers will, perhaps, con- 



WILL NOT BE GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD. 155 

tinue preaching, and unconverted congregations ccntinue to 
visit the sanctuaries upon which God has written Ichahod. 
Lawyers and doctors, scribes and Pharisees, may, perhaps, 
continue to talk learnedly about Christianity, which- none of 
them understand, and contend earnestly for the faith which 
none of them ever experienced, and chuckle complacently 
over the delusion and fanaticism of those who told them that 
the day of judgment had come. I do not say that things 
will occur just in this way j but what I have said is certainly 
much more like the truth than the conceptions which men 
usually form of these matters. 

Of this one thing, my brethren, I am well assured, that the 
stupendous occurrences of the day of judgment will glide in 
upon the world as by stealth, and before a great number of 
even pious people shall be aware that these great scenes have 
commenced; whilst the great mass of worldlings and politi- 
cians will not believe it to the very last, when the Son of man 
will blast them forever with his terrific indignation. " As it 
was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the 
Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, 
they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered 
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took 
them all away." Perhaps it had rained a month before those 
wicked scoffers began to feel any special alarm. Perhaps 
many of them beheld the ark taken up by the swelling waters, 
and yet stood upon the hill-tops laughing at the old preacher's 
folly. Though the valleys were all covered, and the waters 
rose higher and higher every hour, " they Jcnew not" until all 
were swept away by the shoreless waves. And "so shall it be 
also in the days of the Son of man." The nations shall be 
undergoing their judgment, the sainted dead shall be raised, 
the sainted living shall be translated, and the whole earth 
shall heave with the throes of judgment already present ; and 
yet multitudes will go on as they did before, and refuse to be- 



156 THE LAST TIMES. 

lieve what is transpiring. Nations in their desperation will 
continue to declare war, and make treaties, and form alliances, 
and join their armies, and gather together their warriors 
against the Lamb and his people, until at last, to their ever- 
lasting consternation, the Son of man shall appear with his 
sainted hosts, and hurl upon them the mighty thunders of his 
eternal wrath. If it is not to be so, why have Peter and Paul 
told us that " the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
night ?" If it is not to be so, why has the Savior told us so 
earnestly to watch, and pointed out so many signs by which 
we are to be guided, and so repeatedly admonished us to take 
heed lest that day come upon us unawares ? All these things 
prove that the judgment will come upon the world unknown 
except to the devoutest and most watchful of the children of 
men. How important, therefore, that we should study with 
the profoundest care what the inspired prophets have written 
upon this subject for our learning ! With what solemn con- 
cern should we contemplate the mysterious movements of the 
age in which we live ! With what absorbing interest should 
we ponder the given signs by which we are to know when the 
great day of the Lord shall come ! Would it not be an awful 
calamity for the church, which professes to be waiting for 
Christ, to be plunged into the midst of the scenes of that 
great day without so much as knowing that that day has 
come ? Wo, wo, wo, to them whom Christ, when he comes, 
shall find ignorant of the times, and faithless to their duty ! 
" For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with chariots 
like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke 
with flames of fire. For with fire and by his sword will the 
Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be 
many." No man can tell the painful surprises, sufferings 
and scenes of dread and horror which shall then be enacted. 
All the prophets have spoken of them. Christ has again and 
again warned us respecting them Ever and anon they rise 



WARNINGS. 157 

before us on the inspired pages to admonish us of our danger. 
And yet men go on in their sins, and even Christian people 
remain unmoved, not thinking that we may even now be upon 
the very margin of the awful day ! 

0, careless, prayerless, thoughtless child of Adam, who- 
ever you may be, let me warn and entreat you this day not to 
trifle any longer with your soul, or with the requirements of 
Jesus ! Here God hath placed me upon the watch-tower, to 
keep you advised of threatening danger; and I now give you 
the cry of alarm. In the name of that Jesus who will soon 
come, I bid you escape to the mountains, tarry not in all the 
plain, lest you be consumed. Retribution may appear slow in 
coming, but it will come. Cold unbelief and unconcern may 
seem good enough now, but the ways thereof are the ways oi 
destruction. Lot will soon have passed out of Sodom, and 
"the salt of the earth" have vanished; and then the souls of 
the rebellious and the careless shall be like stubble to the fire. 
The trampled law will rise at last to assert its dignity and vin- 
dicate its honor. Christ will not bear the taunts, and thongs 
and mockery of Pilate's hall forever. For every soul and for 
every sin there is a judgment. "We may not consider it, but 
that will not change it. We may be but little alarmed with 
reference to it, but that will not soften its terrors or disrobe 
it of its awfulness. We may argue, and equivocate, and wish 
it were not so ; but it will not reverse the settled decree of 
that G-od who hath said he will bring every work into judg- 
ment; with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether 
it be evil. 

Young man, those sports and gayeties for which you are 
putting Christ and his word aside will all confront you again 
hereafter. Those midnight suppers, rank with profanity and 
intoxication, shall have their reward. Those gatherings in 
the drink-shops of Satan, those witty jests levelled at sacred 
things, those fiery lusts burning on the altar of pleasure, all 

14 



158 THE LAST TIMES. 

are written down in the book of doom which shall soon be 
opened. That scene of riot, that broken pledge, that visit to 
the haunts of profligacy supposed to be known only to your- 
self, each has its appropriate recompense in the distributions 
of coming wrath. 

Yes ; the blood of murdered innocence will not always cry 
from the earth in vain. The wails of trampled helplessness 
will not go unheard forever. The widow's wrongs, and the 
orphan's robbery, will not go perpetually unrequited. The 
unknown assassin, and the secret sinner, will yet be found 
out. The malicious incendiary, and the dishonest clerk, the 
mother who strangled her babe, and the boy that cursed his 
parents in his heart, and every violater of law or despiser of 
the truth, shall yet have to confront their crimes, and answer 
for them to the Lord their Maker. And when once the fearful 
inquisition begins, and the chained thunders are let loose, and 
the long arrearages of wrath come to be paid off, and violated 
law, abused goodness, despised mercy, and outraged justice, 
all combine in the demand for vengeance, oh, who shall tell 
the doom of him who is found uncovered by the Savior's 
righteousness and unsanctified by the Savior's bipod ? "Who 
can tell the greatness of his wretchedness ? Who can weigh 
his torment? Who can fathom the depth of his hell? Is 
there before me a soul so hardened as to resolve to en- 
counter it ? 

Awake, then, sleeper, and call upon thy God, if so be 
that you perish not ! Your race will soon be run. The day 
when God will put his terrific adjudications in force upon you 
will soon arrive. It is stealing upon you as a lion crouching to 
spring upon his prey. The great judgment is close at hand:. 
Already we hear the mutterings of the approaching tempest. 
Before you think it possible, the Lord will arise and say, "It 
is done." Why, then, sleep, and sport, and fold your arms in 
indifference ? " Behold, now is the accepted time ! Behold, 



NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME. 159 

now is the day of salvation !" And I entreat you, by all the 
awful perils that surround us — by the preciousness of the im- 
mortal soul — by the untold peace and blessings of eternity, — 
do not waste your time, nor neglect your opportunities. Haste 
to the arms that are stretched out to save you. Fly at once 
to the refuge set before you. Take sanctuary in Jesus, who 
now offers to save you. And may he who came into the 
world to save sinners be your portion forever ! Amen, and 
Amen! 



DIES IRAE. 

Day of anger, day of wonder, 
When the world shall roll asunder, 
Smote with fire and smoke and thunder ! 

Death astonied, nature shaken, 
See all creatures, as they waken, 
To that dire tribunal taken. 

Lo ! the book where all is hoarded, 
Not a secret unrecorded : 
Every doom is thence awarded. 

So the Judge, when he arraigneth, 
Every hidden thing explaineth : 
Nothing unavenged remaineth. 

In that fiery revelation 

Where shall I make supplication, 

When the just hath scarce salvation ? 

Fount of love, dread King supernal, 

Freely giving life eternal, 

Save me from the pains infernal ! 

This forget not, sweet life-giver, 
Me thou earnest to deliver : 
Cast me not away forever! 

Kneeling, crushed in heart, before thee, 
Sad and suppliant I adore thee : 
Hear me, save me, I implore thee ! 

From the Latin of Thomas cle Celano, \Zth cent. 



SEVENTH DISCOURSE. 

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE JUDGMENT, WITH RESPECT TO THE 

DEAD, WITH RESPECT TO THE LIVING THE UNSANCTIFIED LIVING 

TO BE JUDGED NATIONALLY AT THE SECOND ADVENT THE RESULTS 

OP THESE NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 



Acts xvii. 30, 31: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; 
but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he 
hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained : whereof he 
haih given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
from the dead. / 

I have already given you one discourse upon the judg- 
ment j but I feel that another is necessary to furnish you with 
a clear and full conception of what is revealed concerning it. 
In my last, I endeavored to disabuse your minds of some 
wrong impressions which prevail respecting it, and to present 
what I regard as the more Scriptural views of the subject, 
reserving a more detailed account of its particular administra- 
tions for the present occasion. You were then shown that, in 
a general sense, the judgment of God is the administration or 
enforcement of the government of Grod, and that " the day 
of judgment" is that notable period, when the Son of man 
shall take his great power, complete the redemption of his 
saints, destroy all his enemies, and set up his glorious king- 
dom over the nations. That day will include at least a thou- 
sand years, as Peter says. It will have its morning and its 
evening. Its morning will be the period of Christ's coming, 
and include all the great " signs" which immediately precede, 
160 



JUDGMENT OF THE LIVING AND OF THE DEAD. 161 

attend and follow the second advent. Its evening is the 
period when the last rebellion in the mystic Gog and Magog 
shall be defeated, the wicked dead raised, and they, the devil, 
death, and all that ever disturbed and polluted the earth, 
given over to the ever-burning lake of the second death. It 
is the morning of that day of which the Scriptures say the 
most, and of which I desire now more particularly to speak. 
And may God dictate to your hearts and mine, and so enable 
us to comprehend his mysterious purposes, that we may be 
found of him in peace, without spot and blameless ! 

You have doubtless observed in your reading, that the 
Scriptures distinguish between the judgment of men in the 
flesh, and the judgment of the dead. Christ is " ordained of 
God to be the Judge of quick and dead." He "shall judge 
the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom/' He 
is "ready to judge ike quick and the dead." By "the 
quick/' we are of coursa to understand the living, — those who, 
not yet having died, live in the body at the period when 
Christ comes. We will therefore be under the necessity of 
distinguishing between the judgment as respects the living, 
and the judgment as respects the dead. The one is evidently 
very different from the other ; and, without treating of them 
separately, we can have no clear conception of what God has 
revealed upon the subject. 

As respeets the dead, the matter is plain enough from what 
was presented on the subject of the resurrection of the just. 
All " them which sleep in Jesus" shall be raised from among 
the dead, glorified, exalted, gathered to Christ in the clouds 
beyond mortal sight, and assigned their places in the heavenly 
kingdom according to their works. " The rest of the dead 
live not again until the thousand years are finished." These 
are the administrations of the morning of the judgment-day 
as respects the dead. 

But even among those who live in the body when Christ 
L 14* 



162 THE LAST TIMES. 

comes, we find two classes, — the righteous and the wicked, with 
regard to whom two distinct proceedings will take place As 
to the pious living at that time, they will be translated, and 
undergo a sudden change analogous to the resurrection, and be 
taken up to the risen saints, to be dealt with in the same way 
as those who have been raised from the dead. Paul says, 
" The Lord himself shal . descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Grod ; 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we which are alive 
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall ice be ever 
with the Lord." " We shall not all sleep, but we shall be 
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we sJiall be changed." Thus, all 
the really pious, who live till the day of Christ, shall be 
changed and caught up, as Enoch and Elijah, their great 
types, were changed and caught up, and go to join the glo- 
rious resurrection-host, — "the Bride of the Lamb," — "the 
church of the first-born." Their judgment then will be per- 
sonal and final, introducing them into the fruition of their 
rewards in the eternal kingdom. 

We come now to the unsanctified who shall be found living 
upon earth when Christ appears. How is the introduction 
of the day of judgment to affect them ? Of course they 
will not be translated. Their pious friends and associates 
shall be taken, but they shall be left. Neither will they then 
receive their judgment in full. The final judgment of the 
wicked is not until the end of the millennium. Whatever, 
therefore, shall befall them on the morning of the day of judg- 
ment will only be their judgment in part. It will be a judg- 
ment in the flesh only, and consist of the dispensation of tem- 
poral troubles and calamities. It will be more national than 
personal, and C( ncern them more as states, societies and coOr 



THE XXV. CHAPTER OF JEREMIAH. 163 

federations, than as individuals. It will doubtless be a judg- 
ment of the same kind with those judgments which have 
heretofore been administered to wicked powers and apostate 
nations and churches. Upon this point the Scriptures are 
very plain. 

There is a very remarkable passage on this subject in the 
twenty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah. The prophet there sets forth 
this judgment of the nations one after another as time pro- 
gresses, until it reaches its grand consummation in the adminis- 
trations which are to attend Christ's final coming. He says, 
" Thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me : Take the wine- 
cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom 
I shall send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be 
moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send 
among them. Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and 
made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent 
me : to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings 
thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, 
an astonishment, an hissing and a curse; as it is this day; 
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and 
all his people ; and all the mingled people, and all the kings 
of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philis- 
tines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant 
of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, 
and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and 
the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Dodan, and 
Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, and all 
the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people 
that dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri, and all 
the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, and all 
the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and 

ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, WHICH ARE UPON THE 

face OF the earth : and the king of Sheshach shall drink 
after them. Therefore, thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith 



164 THE LAST TIMES.. 

» 

the Lord of hosts, the G id of Israel, Drink ye, and be drunken, 
and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword 
which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse 
to taKe the cup at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto 
them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink. 
For lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my 
name, and should ye be utterly unpunished ? Ye shall not be 
unpunished : for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabit- 
ants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore, pro- 
phesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them," 
— and here comes a description of this universal judgment of 
the nations as it shall be consummated when Christ shall be 
manifested, — " The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter 
his voice from his holy habitation ; he shall give a shout, as 
they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the 
earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth : for 
the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead 
with all flesh ; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, 
saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil 
shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind 
shall be raised from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of 
the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even 
unto the other end of the earth : they shall not be lamented, 
neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the 
ground." 

And it is in perfect harmony with this, that the Savior 
himself tells us, that in the period of his coming there will 
be "upon earth distress of nations with perplexity;" and that 
"when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the 
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his 
glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he 
shall separate them (the nations) one from another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." And when 
that solemn reckoning ccmes, as the Scriptures abundantly 






OTHER PROPHECIES. lf>5 

teach, there is but one people on the face of the whole earth 
which, as a nation, shall not fall among the goats, and be 
doomed as the uncharitable persecutors and neglectors of the 
brethren of Jesus. Daniel tells us, that when the Son of man 
shall come in his kingdom, " it shall break in pieces and con- 
sume all these (goat) kingdoms." Yes, "he cometh with 
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which 
pierced him, and all the kindreds (<puXat. — tribes) of the earth 
shall wail because of him." He shall "judge and make 
war." He shall be " clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. " 
He shall "with a sharp sword smite the nations, and rule 
them with a rod of iron; treading the winepress of the 
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And all the fowls 
that fly in the midst of heaven shall eat the flesh of kings, 
and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and 
the flesh of horses and them that sit on them." " Behold, 
the day of the Lord cometh, — his feet shall stand in that day 
upon the Mount of Olives, — for I will gather all nations 
against Jerusalem to battle. . . . Then shall the Lord go forth 
and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day 
of battle. . . . And it shall come to pass that a great tumult 
from the Lord shall be among them." "In that day the 
Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, 
and the kings of the earth upon earth; and they shall be 
gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit ; when 
the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, even in Jeru- 
salem, and before his ancients gloriously." Again, it is said, 
"Come near, ye nations, and hearken, ye people: for the in- 
dignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon 
all their armies : he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath de- 
livered them to the slaughter ; and the mountains shall be 
melted with their blood. For it is the day of the Lord's ven- 
geance, anl the year of recompenses for the controversy of 
Zion :" (Is. xxiv. and xxxiv.) The word ot the Lord by 



166 THE LAST TIMES. 

Zephaniah is, " "Wait ye upon me, until the day that I rise up 
to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, 
that I may assemble :he kingdoms, to pour upon them my in- 
dignation, even all my fierce anger ; for all the earth shall be 
devoured with the flaming fire of my jealousy." And all, 
when "he shall appear to the joy" of those that "tremble at 
his word." 

John's vision of the opening of the sixth seal refers to the 
same events, in which he beheld, "and the kings of the 
earth, and the great men, and the chief captains, and the 
mighty men, and all their adherents, hid themselves in the 
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the 
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb : for the great day of his wrath hath come, and who 
shall be able to stand V 

Do you ask me, then, what the judgment is with regard to 
the unsanctified who live upon earth when Christ comes ? 
Here you have it described, not by the fancies of poets who 
wrote to make themselves a name, but in the words given by 
the Spirit of the great Judge himself. And what a sublime and 
terrific picture it furnishes of the final vindication of the reality 
and righteousness of that divine Sovereignty which every 
nation and confederation on earth, both civil and ecclesiastical, 
has been usurping, invading and denying ever since man first 
departed from G-od ! Where is the nation, state, kingdom, or 
hierarchy under the broad heavens that has not been built and 
sustained more or less by injustice, oppression, ambition and 
unrighteousness? Where is the policy that has reigned, or 
that now reigns, in church or state, that is not crooked, per- 
verse, and mixed up with vast and wicked invasions of the 
rights of Him whose is the kingdom, and who alone is the 
rightful governor among the nations? And wheresoever the 
carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. It was 



THE JEWS. 167 

upon that generation of the Jews who lived when Jerusalem 
finally fell, that all the blood of prophets and martyrs shed by 
their fathers was visited; and so the nations still living when 
Christ comes shall be dealt with for all " their ungodly deeds 
which they have ungodly committed," and which have been 
accumulating for ages. The ploughshare of destruction shall 
then run deep; and the furrow it shall turn will bury forever 
all the proud works of rebellious man. In all the Scriptures, 
there appears to be but one exception to the general crash of 
earthly establishments ; and even that shall not be an entire 
exception. There is an exemption proclaimed in favor of the 
Jewish race, which, as a distinct nationality, has had its 
judgment. Jeremiah says, "These are the words that the 
Lord spake concerning Israel, and concerning Judah. . . . 
Alas ! for that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even 
the time of Jacob's trouble;" which extends from Jerusalem's 
fall to the period of the final advent : (Luke xxi. 24.) "But 
he shall he saved out of it. . . . Therefore fear thou not, 
my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, 
Israel ; for lo, / will save thee from afar, and thy seed from 
the land of thy captivity ; and Jacob shall return, and shall 
be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. 
For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee ; though 1 

MAKE A FULL END of ALL NATIONS WHITHER I HAVE 
SCATTERED THEE, YET WILL I NOT MAKE A FULL END OF 

thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave 
thee altogether unpunished. . . " (See also Zech. xiv. 2.) 
"They that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine 
adversaries, every one of them shall go into captivity; and 
they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upoD 
thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto 
thee, and heal thee of all thy wounds, saith the Lord. Be- 
hold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and 
have mercy on his dwelling-places, and the city shall be 



168 THE LAST TIMES. 

builded on her own little hill. Out of them shall proceed 
thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry : and I 
will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also 
glorify them ; and they shall not be small. Their children 
also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be 
established before me, and / will punish all that oppress 
them. . . . Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with 
fury, a cutting whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the 
head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not 
return until he have done it, and until he have performed the 
intents of his heart : in the latter days ye shall consider it :" 
(Jer. xxx.) 

My brethren, some people contemn the Jews, and speak 
despisingly of them. For eighteen hundred years they have 
been a hissing, a byword, and a reproach. The nations have 
dealt most unjustly towards them; and many to this day 
never look upon them but with derision and with scorn. But 
every Jew that moves upon the face of the earth is a living 
token of the coming wrath of God. All God's prophets were 
Jews ; and there is a sense in which all the Jews are God's 
prophets. Superstitious, obstinate, blind, derided, as the Jew 
is, he is a herald of the fierce judgment of Almighty God, 
which is to make " a full end of all nations" wherever he 
is found. He stands in our luxurious cities, and before 
our churches, as Jonah amid Nineveh, summoning us to re- 
pentance and mourning. And instead of feeling contempt 
and scorn when we come into his presence, we should rather 
be humbled and solemn, as if God's prophet were before us 
predicting trouble. He is the harbinger of disturbances and 
desolations which he alone, of all the races living, shall 
escape. His day of tribulation has been great and long, 
without a parallel. His Jerusalem is " trodden down of the 
Gentiles," and will remain trodden down "till the times of 
the Gentiles be fulfilled." But he shall be saved out of his 









ASPECT OF THE JUDGMENT TIMES. 169 

troubles. All his wounds shall be healed. He shall yet 
live. And when the time of his nation's resurrection comes, 
which has been so long foretold by his holy prophets, then 
shall the nations mourn. "In that day, saith the Lord of 
hosts, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all nations 
that are round about. And I will make Jerusalem a burden- 
some stone to all nations, and they shall be cut in pieces and 
broken } though all the people of the earth be gathered 
together." It is useless for us to shut our eyes to these awful 
announcements. God himself has made them, and no man 
can alter the thing that i3 gone out of his mouth. The 
despised Jew shall yet look forth from Zion and behold the 
grave of every kingdom upon earth. 

But let us now endeavor to draw out, and set forth in 
greater particularity, some of the things comprehended in 
these more general statements. 

He that will be at the pains to put together all that has 
been revealed concerning the judgment as it respects the 
living when Christ comes, will not fail to see that it is to be a 
scene or succession of terrific social agitations, irruptions and 
revolutions. It will be a time of wars and rumors of wars; 
of political perplexities and disasters; of ferments and pre- 
cipitations in the whole existing order of things; of civil 
storms, earthquakes, commotions, overturnings and devast- 
ations. People are to rise up and overthrow governments, 
slay their rulers, prey upon each other, and involve the 
world in bloody and inextricable broils. Ambitious and 
godless men will spring into places of power, array their 
followers against each other, trample down national and inter- 
national law, and rush to certain destruction. Infidels and 
socialists of a thousand hues shall disorganize, undermine, 
subvert and destroy with bloody hands, and spread ruin in 
their path. Schisms and feuds of all sorts shall break forth 
to cripple and desolate. Great powers, which think them- 

15 



170 THE LAST TIMES. 

eelves secure, shall be suddenly overwhelmed. Infatuated 
zealots, secular and ecclesiastial, shall lead men into scenes of 
terror and ruin. Great alliances and combinations shall be 
formed and swelled into the most gigantic proportions, until 
they unexpectedly fall by their own weight and crush every 
thing beneath them. And the whole earth shall heave, and 
reel, and start, and . stagger, with agony and delirium ; for it 
is "the great day of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty 
God." 

In this condition of things, all present forms of government 
shall be modified, if not wholly dissolved. All emperors and. 
kings shall be divested of their power; for "the sun shall be 
darkened." All orders of corrupt nobility, princedoms, duke- 
doms, premierships, and such like, shall be cast down; for 
"the stars shall fall." Kings, great men, rich men, chief 
captains, mighty men, and all their adherents, shall be stripped 
of their possessions, and driven to terrible extremities and 
desperation; for God hath said it in just so many words. 
Every sceptre shall break in the hands of him who holds it; 
every crown shall tumble from the brow of him that wears it ; 
the mightiest armies shall be utterly routed, and the greatest 
navies brought to naught. Worlds shall not rush upon each 
other and be no more, but thrones and human magistracies 
will. Matter will not wreck and vanish, but all political 
combinations will. The great orbs of immensity shall not be 
annihilated, but all whom those orbs symbolize in this world 
will; for God will "break in pieces and consume all these 
kingdoms" The whole body and framework of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's image, from its golden scalp to its toes of clay, every 
particle of it, shall be " like the chaff of the summer thresh- 
ing-floors," driven by the four winds. 

A similar destiny also then awaits all present church 
organizations, — at least all establishments and hierarchies. 
As they stand connected with the world's politics, they shall 



CHURCH SYSTEMS. 171 

share the same fate. "The moon shall be confounded, and 
Decome as blood." The ecclesiastical as well as the political 
heavens shall have their powers shaken, and be rolled up as a 
scroll ; and the stars in the one shall be cast down as the stars 
in the other. There is not a church system or denomi- 
national organization now on earth that shall ever find its way 
into the millennial times, or survive this period of the wrath 
of Grod. They are all provisional and temporary. They are 
all wood, hay and stubble, which the fires shall consume. 
They are all tainted. They are all founded too much on the 
wisdom of man, and consist too entirely of works of human 
authority and power to live. They shall all wither and die ; 
and they that build their salvation on them shall die with 
them. There are many church politicians who are as bad and 
as obnoxious to the judgment as any state politicians; and one 
doom is reserved for them all. My hope is in Christ Jesus 
and his infallible word, and not in any lauded church system 
under the sun. I am sure that there will be neither Protest- 
antism, nor Romanism, nor High Church, nor Low Church, nor 
Lutheranism, nor Methodism, nor Presbyterianism, nor any 
other kind of ism, in the glorious millennium. What then 
shall become of all these isms, and the systems founded on 
them? There is no alternative; they shall all perish forever 
in the storms and fires of wrath which are beginning to be 
felt, and which shall soon sweep over all the earth ; and they 
that adhere to these systems to the neglect of Christ and his 
pure gospel shall perish with them. 

Brethren, strange as these things may seem to some, they 
are the sober truths of Divine revelation. Study carefully the 
word of God, think for yourselves, only adjust in your own 
minds some of the great facts which we all admit, and 
you will not fail to arrive at the same conclusions. 
Your beautiful ceremonies, your magnificent rituals, your 
boasted democracy of church order, your vast and unique or- 



172 THE LAST TIMES. 

ganization, all constructed by human wisdom, must be changed 
and come to naught. Your unsanctified and defiant denomi- 
national champions, and your sectarian Goliaths, shall all fall 
dead before the sling-stone of that David who cometh to judge 
the world in righteousness; and all their marshaled hosts, 
who have been rallied under the battle-cry of mere party, shall 
be scattered in confusion, and scorched by the hot flames of 
God's retribution. 

Understand me rightly. I am not exhorting any one to 
forsake his denomination, or to stand aloof from the church in 
the forms in which it now exists. That would only augment 
partyism, and increase needless contention or fatal indiffer- 
ence. Let him who would approve himself unto his Lord do 
the best he can under the circumstances. Keep diligently to 
your Bible, make the most of your opportunities, and meekly 
wait and watch for the coming of the Savior to set all things 
right by making all things new. If you are a Lutheran, 
work as a Lutheran ; but let the Scriptures and not Lutheran- 
ism be your guide. If you are a Methodist, work as a Method- 
ist; but work, not for Methodism, but for Christ. If you 
are an Episcopalian, work as an Episcopalian ; but rest not 
your hope and aim in Episcopalianism, but in the simple gos- 
pel of the blessed God. Let the ism be to you as though it 
were not, and embrace Christ with all your heart, and lay hold 
of him as your all in all. For as certain as the judgment, all 
these isms must die. The great day shall make an end of 
them. And if you have no Christianity but them, alas for 
your hope ! 

These judicial visitations, however, will fall much more 
heavily upon some nations and combinations than upon 
others. Some are deeper in apostasy and guilt than others ; 
and the righteous Judge shall apportion the punishment to the 
crime. There are some nations, confederations and hierarchies 
specially singled out in tho prophecies as the objects of Jeho- 



THE TEN-HORNED WILD BEAST. 173 

yah's most terrific indignation. Conspicuous among these 
are, — 

1. The ten-horned wild beast of Daniel and John; 

2. The image of the beast ; and, 

3. Great Babylon. 

I cannot, in this connection, present and reason out the 
processes by which the objects denoted by these symbols ar» 
to be identified. A vast amount of criticism and comment 
are involved, through which I have tried to wade, but which 
arc of too intricate a character and too voluminous and con- 
flicting to be brought forward in this connection. There are 
conclusions to which I have come, however, which I will an- 
nounce, remarking at the same time that I believe them to be 
at least plausible, and not without some solid foundation. 

The ten-horned wild beast of Daniel and John is the repre- 
sentative of the Roman empire. Its ten horns are the ten 
kingdoms which took the place of the old Roman empire, 
and now occupy its territory. It is, therefore, the symbol of 
the supreme civil power of the ten kingdoms into which the 
Roman empire was divided. These ten kingdoms originally 
embraced the Huns, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Franks, 
the Vandals, the Sueves, the Burgundians, the Herulians and 
Thuringians, the Saxons and the Longobards. At present, they 
perhaps embrace the three Papal States, Naples, Tuscany, 
Austria, Great Britain, France, Portugal and Spain. The 
supreme civil power, then, of these and, may-be, a few other 
countries, is the wild beast of whom we are now speaking. 

The image of the beast may represent the ecclesiastical 
rulers and teachers which princes and people have been de- 
luded to erect into a vast church hierarchy under the pope, 
who exercises over it a sway and jurisdiction analogous to, or 
the image of, that which the civil rulers exert over their po- 
litical empires. This image of the beast derived its existence 
and power from the false teachings and lying wonders of the 

15* 



174 THE LAST TIMES. 

papal beast on the one hand, and from the misled rx.itical 
authorities on the other : (Rev. xiii. 14, 15.) It is, therefore, 
that empire of priests and church officials, presented in what 
is falsely called " the Catholic church/' and who are feared 
and worshipped by their millions of subjects with an idolatry 
as debasing as it is wicked. 

But what is meant by great Babylon — -that mother of har- 
lotry and source of earth's worst abominations ? Some have 
thought that this symbol denotes the city of Borne. Some 
have taken it as the representative of the Bomish church. 
Some have given it still other applications. But I know of no 
explanation which so completely meets the case, as that which 
takes great Babylon as the symbol of that base and corrupting 
system known as the union of church and state. The city of 
Borne cannot be meant ; for great Babylon is presented as a 
living agent; and living agents do not represent inanimate 
objects. She is represented as borne by the wild beast; and 
must therefore be something different from the mere secular 
power, and yet entirely dependent upon the secular power. 
The Bomish church, as such, does not wholly depend upon 
the secular power; but all state churches do. I therefore 
take great Babylon as the symbol of the living, seductive and 
corrupting body of nationalized hierarchies, both Papal and 
Protestant, whether in the Old World or in the New. 

Now, then, let us glance at the destiny of these three mon- 
sters, intertwined as they are, for the most part, the one with 
the other, and see how they will be affected by the introduc- 
tion of the day of judgment. 

As to great Babylon, her doom is sealed. She shall fall ; 
and great shall be her fall. In' the visions of John, as soon 
as one angel announced that " the liour of judgment is come," 
another followed, saying, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that 
great city, because she made all the nations drink of the wine 
cf the wrath of hei fornication :" (Bev. xiv. 7, 8.) What- 



STATE CHURCHES. 175 

ever may be said in their favor, these state churches and na- 
tionalized hierarchies are an abomination in the sight of God. 
They are "full of names of blasphemy." They have ever 
arrogated to themselves the rights of God, and assumed un- 
warranted authority over his legislation and over the con- 
sciences of his people. They are august and splendid es- 
tablishments, " robed in purple and scarlet, and decked with 
gold, and precious stones, and pearls." They have seduced 
millions into spiritual fornication, by their elegant attire and 
their bewitching flatteries. But all their pompous decorations 
and lofty pretensions will not hide their impurities from the 
eye of a jealous God. They are all "drunk with the blood 
of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." 
Sustained as they are with more than princely revenues, and 
shielded by the sword of secular power, they have been the 
agents of the bloodiest persecutions that the world has ever 
seen since the days of the pagan emperors. Ask a Papist who 
were the authors of those disgraceful inflictions in various 
countries professedly Christian, by which thousands upon 
thousands lost their lives for their religious opinions, and he 
will tell you, the civil government. Ask rabid Protestants, 
and they will tell you, the Romish church. But consult the 
truth, and k will tell you, it was the union of church and 
state. Even in the most enlightened Protestant countries 
where such union exists, the skirts of its robes are clotted 
with the blood and saturated with the tears of wronged and 
oppressed dissenters. I say this with shame and sorrow ; . but 
so it is, and God has noted it all in his book of doom. There 
never has been a state church, in any age or any country, that 
has not been more or less an intolerant and a persecuting 
church. And where the papal hierarchy has enjoyed this re- 
lation to the secular power, God alone knows all the wrongs 
that have been perpetrated, and the streams of martyr-blood 
that have been spilled. It was not the state, as Rome would 



176 THE LAST TIMES. 

persuade us j it was not the Romish church, as such ; but it 
was the product of church and state united, — the result of the 
blasphemous undertaking on the part of the civil power, with 
the consent of those who called themselves the church, to 
legislate in things which belong only to the individual con- 
science and its God. Religion is not a subject for human 
legislation. It is not for man to say how we are to be held in 
communion and allegiance with our Maker. Some tell us that 
it is our duty to obey the state ; and others insist that it is our 
duty to obey the church ; and from these two things it is 
argued that it is pre-eminently our duty to obey where church 
and state speak together. But the whole argument is sophis- 
tical and unsound. No man, or combination of men, has any 
right to impose laws between the soul and its God. Jehovah 
himself is the only Lord of the conscience. When Nebu- 
chadnezzar commands his subjects to fall down and worship 
an image, it is an inalienable right in us, like the three He- 
brew children, to disobey. When Darius forbids calling upon 
God, Jehovah is with every Daniel who sets the prohibition 
at defiance. When the Sanhedrim pronounces a ban upon 
the preaching of Peter and John, the Lord God of the holy 
prophets commands them to trample it under their feet. The 
human soul is obliged by no law which meddles with its rela- 
tions to its Creator. And the great, crying, and unpardonable 
sin of great Babylon is, that it everywhere undertakes to 
legislate for God, and forges chains to shackle the free-born 
soul. 

But Babylon shall be " remembered before God, to give to 
her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." All 
these state hierarchies shall be shaken down and overwhelmed. 
The very governments which now support and make use of 
them shall turn against them. God says, " The ten horns 
upon the beast shall hate her, and make her desolate and 
naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." States 



GREAT BABYLON. 177 

in their straits shall rob her of her wealth, confiscate her 
goods, divest her of her possessions, appropriate her benefices 
and revenues to other purposes, and reduce the whole system 
to distress and desolation. Such is to be her fall ; and after 
her fall shall come her punishment. Her lord-bishops, her 
high superintendents and all her officials shall yet have a 
dreadful road to travel. God will yet say to those whom she 
has wronged, impoverished and oppressed, "Give to her as 
she also gave; and double to her according to her works. 
Into the cup which she has poured, pour to her double. As 
much as she has glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so 
much torment give her and sorrow." " In one day shall her 
plagues come, death, and sorrow, and famine; and she shall 
be burned with fire : for mighty is the Lord God who shall 
judge her. And the kings of the earth" — the civil powers — 
M who have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with 
her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see 
the smoke of her burning ; and standing afar off for fear of 
her torment, shall say, Alas, alas ! that great city Babylon, 
that mighty city ! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And 
the merchants of the earth" — the nobles and dignitaries that 
held the patronage of her benefices — " shall weep and mourn 

over her And they that were made rich by her shall 

stand afar off for fear of her torment, and cast dust on their 
heads, crying, weeping and wailing," whilst all heaven shouts, 
Alleluia ! that her judgment is come : (Kev. xviii.) Her 
destruction shall be entire. As a millstone, when thrown into 
the depths of the sea, sinks forever out of the sight of men, 
so shall this great harlot be swept from the earth, without 
leaving so much as a rack behind. 

As to the wild ten-horned beast, — the civil powers that have 
grown out of the Roman empire, — all of which are but branches 
and modifications of the old Roman monster, with great iron 
teeth and claws of brass, devouring, breaking in pieces and 

M 



178 THE LAST TIMES 

trampling under foot, — its destiny is also annoum. *d There 
is not a throne upon the territory of the Caesars that is not a 
nuisance in the face of heaven. They are all built in usurpa- 
tion and wrong. They are all sustained by tyranny and stained 
with blood. They have deceived, and they shall be deceived 
and lured to perdition. By the pressure of the times, and by 
the cunning of demons, they shall yet be brought into one 
grand coalition, and go forth to the war of the great day of 
God Almighty, when the hand of the descended Jesus shall 
strike them to the earth to rise no more. 

I have intimated, that the Jewish race is to be restored to 
its ancient home and the Jewish nationality rebuilt. I will 
illustrate this point at greater length hereafter. In connection 
with this restoration of the Jews, much offense will be taken 
by some of the reigning powers. The prophet says, " Jeru- 
salem shall be made a cup of trembling to all nations that are 
round about, and a burdensome stone to all nations/' There 
shall be great controversies about the occupation of the Holy 
Land. Politics will become inextricably involved. Strange 
alliances shall be brought about, until at length all the powers 
of Earth shall find themselves involved in one great confede- 
ration, under the last head of the beast, — most likely the Em- 
peror of the French, — and drawn into a great Eastern war, of 
which Palestine will be the centre. This vast combination, 
under its infidel leader, shall overflow the whole world, destroy 
many countries, have power over the treasures of Egypt, enter 
into the glorious land, plant its tents between the seas in the 
glorious holy mountain, and there encounter the fierce wrath 
of God: (Dan. xi. 40-45.) Plague unprecedented shall seize 
the invading hosts. " Their flesh shall consume away while 
they stand upon their feet; and their eyes shall consume away 
in their sockets; and their tongues shall consume away in theii 
mouth; and great tumult from the Lord shall be among them :" 
(Zech. xiv. 12-16.) The beast shall be "slain, and its body 



THE PAPAL HIERARCHY. 179 

destroyed and given to the burning flame:" (Dan. vii. 11.) 
The heavens shall open; the Son of man shall appear; his 
kingdom shall be revealed j the beast and false prophet shall 
be taken and given to the fires; and thus shall Grod " break in 
pieces and consume all these kingdoms:" (John xix. 11-20; 
Dan. ii. 44.)* 

And as to the image of the beast, — the ecclesiastical empire 
of popery, — its destiny is so closely identified with great Baby- 
lon and the beast itself, that when we read the fate of the one 
we have in substance the fate of the other. Stroke after 
stroke shall fall upon it, wasting, crippling, denuding, consum- 
ing it, until the brightness of the Savior's presence shall bring 
it to everlasting destruction: (2 Thess. ii. 8.) "And if any 
man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark 
in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the 
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mix- 
ture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented 
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 
in the presence of the Lamb :" (Rev. xiv. 9, 10.) 

Let -men beware, then, how they tamper with these objects 
of G-od's distinguishing and extinguishing retributions. Let 
them beware how they approve, justify, defend and abet the 
cause of state churches, lest they involve themselves in the 
whoredoms of great Babylon. Let them beware how they 
admire, applaud and revere the tyrannical and blasphemous 
systems and policies of European legislation and dominion; 
for they that "worship" this ten-horned monster, or receive 
his mark, shall go down into the pit. And especially let men 
beware, that they give not their reverence to the image of this 
beast, or bow their knees or necks to the ecclesiastical empire 
of popery, or in any way identify themselves with its abomi- 
nations; for they that bear its insignia shall "have no rest day 
nor night; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for- 
ever and ever." It is apon these systems, their adherents and 

* See Note G, page 341. 



180 THE LAST TIMES. 

abettors, that the heaviest and thickest woes of the judgment 
of the great day shall fall. 

From these statements it appears that there is after all a 
wise and mighty overruling providence in the affairs of men. 
Whatever skeptics and politicians may say, " The kingdom is 
the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations." "He 
setteth up kings, and he putteth them down." "He ruleth 
in the kingdoms of men, and giveth them to whomsoever he 
will." He "frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh 
diviners mad; he turneth wise men backwards, and maketh 
their knowledge foolish." This world is not a fatherless 
thing, cast off to everlasting orphanage. It may seem end- 
lessly confused now; but Grod hath appointed a day in the 
which he will judge it in righteousness, by that man whom he 
hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, 
in that he hath raised him from the dead. . Its affairs are not 
things of chance, nor its destinies without control. Wise men 
may plan, and wicked men may plot, and mighty men may 
execute; but the ultimate disposal of every thing is of the 
Lord. The mightiest and the weakest, the vastest and the 
minutest, are equally under his omniscient eye and equally 
within his almighty power. He is in the senates and cabinets 
of nations, in the battle-field of conflicting armies, at the desk 
of the author, and in circles of the designing everywhere, and 
always moulding, directing, restraining all things for the con- 
summation of his own great purposes, and making even the 
wrath of man to praise him. People may rage, and nations 
disregard his laws, and men act out their villany ; but they 
shall never press Jehovah to extremities, or defeat that holy 
arm which stands pledged for the everlasting defence of the 
righteous. He knows the end of all things from the begin- 
ning, and his inscrutable arrangements are all made accord- 
ingly. There is not a turn in human things which he has not 
taken into his sublime calculations. Matters u ay be very dark 



SECURITY OF THE DEVOUT. 181 

to us, but they are all plain to him. Wisdom, order, right- 
eousness and glory shall yet come out of the mighty riddle of 
human history. The day of judgment shall solve the problem 
that has puzzled men so long. Confusion, injustice, falsehood 
and wrong may seem to triumph for a while ; but the result is 
certain. Their grave is dug. Their doom is at hand. They 
may be too mighty for us ; but Christ is Lord, and he must 
reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet. Antichrist 
shall die; tyranny shall die; error shall die; sin shall die; and 
at last death itself shall die. The world has a ruler who will 
Bubdue all evil and set things right in the end. The sublime 
wisdom and rectitude of all his administrations will yet be the 
glory and delight of the saints, and the rapture of his holy 
ones forever and ever. 

And in view of the commotions and distresses, the overturn- 
mgs and the desolations, that await the unsanctified world, how 
precious are the hopes of the devout ! If we are in Christ 
Jesus, there is no more condemnation. The true people of 
God are safe. They are enclosed in everlasting arms. The 
broad shield of Omnipotence is over them. Some may pass 
through a sharp night, but it will be short* Though the 
powers of the heavens be shaken, and the foundations of the 
earth be moved, they that put their trust in the Lord shall 
never be confounded. "Wars may come, and bloody revolu- 
tions may come; famine may come, and plagues may come; 
thrones may fall and empires may dissolve, and all the proud 
works of human genius may be dashed to desolation ; but, if 
our hope is fixed on G-od, and our souls are united with his 
Anointed, we shall sing, amid the turmoil and the wreck, " Alle- 
luia ! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" 

Only let us see to it, then, that we be indeed the disciples 
and friends of Jesus. Let us not rest satisfied with perad- 
ventures, but give the most earnest heed to the things which 
we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 

* See Note H, page 349. 
16 



182 THE LAST TIMES. 

Signs of the approaching judgment are already being mani- 
fested on every side. All fingers are pointing to the great 
crisis as near at hand. The days in which we live are 
freighted with intense and exhaustless issues. We stand 
upon a point where the last rays of a fading world mingle 
with the dawn of an opening eternity. Nations and churches, 
superstitions and errors, are heaving and tottering for their 
final fall. The time is come that judgment must begin. The 
fires stored away so long are beginning to beat against their 
prison-walls, and to clamor for their promise of release. And 
may kind Heaven help us to prepare to meet our God! 

AROUSE FOR DUTY. 

We are living, we are dwelling, 

In a grand, eventful time; 
In an age on ages telling, — 

To be living, is sublime. 

Hark ! tbe waking up of nations, 

Truth and Error to tbe fray. 
Hark ! what soundeth ? 'tis Creation 

Groaning for its latter day ! 

Will ye play, then ? will ye dally 

With your music and your wine? 
Up I it is Jehovah's rally ! 

God's own arm hath need of thine. 

Hark ! the onset ! will ye fold your 

Faith-clad arms in lazy lock ? 
Up ! 0, up ! thou drowsy soldier ; 

Worlds are charging to the shock. 

Worlds are charging, Heaven beholding; 

Thou hast but an hour to fight; 
Now, the blazoned cross unfolding, 

On ! — right onward, for the right. 

A. C Coxa. 



EIGHTH DISCOURSE. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS — OBJECTIONS ANSWERED NEW TES- 
TAMENT ALLUSIONS TO THE SUBJECT — ANCIENT PROPHECIES — HIS- 
TORICAL FACTS — PARTICULARS EXPLAINED. 



Ez. xxxvii. 21 : Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord : Behold, 1 
will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, {nations,) 
whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and 
bring them into their own land. 

It is to be borne in mind that our inquiries in this series 
of discourses relate to but one great epoch in human affairs, 
the consummation of the age, and what connects with it. 
All that I have thus far said appertains to this wonderful and 
critical period. The personal return and manifestation of 
Christ in our world, "the restitution of all things/' the resur- 
rection of the sainted dead, the transfiguration of the pious 
living at the time, and the terrific administrations of the en- 
throned Messiah upon the guilty nations and confederations 
of the earth, — all, to a great extent, are contemporaneous. 
They all synchronize, or happen together in the same general 
period. But there are still other great occurrences predicted 
for that time of wonders. Among these is the conversion 
and final restoration of the Israelitish race. 

That the great bulk of this astonishing people will yet be 

converted to Christ the Messiah, and be again grafted upoii 

the olive-tree of the spiritual Israel from which they have 

been measurably broken off, is pretty well agreed on all hands. 

183 



184 THE LAST TIMES. 

Whitby says, "This hath been the constant doctrine of the 
church of Christ, owned by the Greek and Latin fathers, and 
by all the commentators I have met with." The inspired 
declarations upon this subject are too explicit to be evaded. 
11 All Israel shall be saved : as it is written, There shall come 
out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness 

from Jacob : FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT UNTO THEM." 

But that this scattered family of Jacob shall again be 
gathered, and nationally restored to the land of their fathers, 
is not so generally admitted. Some have no patience at all 
with such a theory, and sneeringly ask, What can be the 
object of such a restoration? What end is it to answer? 
What purpose can it subserve ? But to all such methods of 
reasoning, it is enough to reply that our business is with the 
word of Grod, and that if God has announced it as his purpose 
so to restore the Jewish nation he certainly has adequate 
reasons to justify his purpose. No Christian will refuse to 
defer to the rectitude of Jehovah's doings. The only ques- 
tion is, whether God has said that he will restore the Jewish 
nation ; for, if he has so said, no reasonings of ours can invalid- 
ate his promise or throw uncertainty upon his word. Whe- 
ther we can foresee the objects to be subserved or not, there 
is not a "jot or tittle" of his revelation which is not more 
reliable than all the whims or reasonings of all the wisest 
thinkers that ever lived. 

Others tell us that the restoration of the Jewish nationality 
would be contrary to the spirit of the gospel ; that all such 
distinctions and differences as are implied in the re-establish- 
ment of that nation have been superseded by the new cove- 
nant; that "the middle wall of partition" between Jews and 
G-entiles has been broken down in Christ; and that therefore 
we cannot hope for Israel's restoration. But what of that, 
if God has clearly declared that he will rebuild Jerusalem and 
the Jewish state ? We dare not set aside the positive declara- 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 185 

tions of the Lord by human inferences. But it i.s not true 
that the gospel has abolished all national distinctions. The 
wall of partition has been broken down only so far, that the 
offers of forgiveness and eternal life are now made equally 
to Jews and Gentiles, so that either may embrace them and 
be numbered with God's redeemed ones. Receiving Christ 
as the Savior does not make Englishmen Americans, nor 
Frenchmen Greeks. These national distinctions still remain, 
however eminent may be our saintship, and will perhaps 
remain forever. Converting a Jew to Christianity will not 
make him a Gentile. And if there can be an English or 
American nationality without subverting the spirit and nature 
of the gospel, there may also be a Jewish nationality equally 
exempt from all contravention of the Christian economy. I 
can see no more difficulty in the one case than in the other. 

Again, some say if we admit that the Jews are to be re- 
stored as a nation ; we must also admit that they will occupy 
an enviable place and possess peculiar prerogatives, which it 
would not be well for us to concede. But shall we bend and 
modify the word of God to make it harmonize with our whims 
and jealousies ? Are we to explain away the positive state- 
ments of revelation because they disagree with our tastes 
and conflict with our vanity and pride ? Away with such 
unworthy feelings upon a subject like this ! What if the 
Jews shall be put into the front ranks in the glorious kingdom 
of the Son of David ? If God sees fit to give them that 
place, will it not be right ? They have not abused their 
original calling any more than the Gentile church has abused 
the gospel. The most illustrious of the saints belonged to 
the Jewish race. The adorable Redeemer himself was a Jew. 
" He took on him the seed of Abraham/' For more than 
two thousand Tears the Hebrew people were nurtured as God's 
own favorites; and for all that time were the only people 
under heaven who v Drshipped the one living and true God. 



186 THE LAST TIMES. 

And had it not been for them, where would be the Bible in 
which we glory, or those glad promises of life through which 
we hope ? Theu why murmur and seek to turn the point of 
Jehovah's prophecies, because, perchance, these descendants 
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may yet be blest for their fa- 
thers' sake and be made to stand high in the millennial king- 
dom ? For my own part, I am heartily willing to acquiesce 
in any arrangements which the blessed Savior may make ; and 
I will at the same time persist in holding as the truth of God 
whatsoever I find clearly stated in his holy word, no matter 
where it may lead me. 

And yet again it is said that the New Testament is the 
key to the Old, that the New Testament says nothing about 
the restoration of the Jews, and that therefore we are to seek 
for some other interpretation of those Old Testament predic- 
tions which seem to declare it. Now, I deny that the New 
Testament is silent on the subject, and will presently show to 
the contrary. But, if the Gospels and Epistles never once 
alluded to it, I would still deny the inference which the ob- 
jector would have us draw from such a fact. The announce- 
ments of the prophets are just as reliable and authoritative as 
those of the apostles and evangelists ; and it is a mistake to 
Buppose that, because we have the New Testament, we have 
nothing further to do with the Old. The one is no less the 
word of God than the other. Each department of the Scrip- 
ture has its own peculiar importance, and was given to meet 
its own peculiar emergency. And if a thing asserted in one 
part, given for one purpose, is not reiterated with equal ex- 
plicitness and fullness in a subsequent part, given more 
directly for another purpose, to conclude therefrom that 
what was first asserted is no longer the divine intention, 
would be to treat the immutable Jehovah as a child. I know 
that the New Testament contains but little on the subject of 
Israel's restoraticu. But it has allusions to it, and eneou- 



NEW TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS TO THE SUBJECT. 187 

raging allusions, which are enough to show that God's purpose 
in that direction still stands. 

The first passage to which I refer you in the New Testa- 
ment respecting the restoration of the Jewish race, is one 
uttered by the Savior himself, where he says, "Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the 
Gentiles be fulfilled.' ; Take a plain common-sense view of 
this passage, and what does it mean ? The treading down of 
Jerusalem can be nothing more nor less than the destruction 
and desolation of the Jewish metropolis and state by the de- 
portation of the Jewish people. And what is the cessation 
of this treading down of the Jewish metropolis and state but 
the restoration of the Jewish people ? Who can make any 
thing else out of it ? Commentators have been wrangling 
and racking their wits for ages about what is to be understood 
by the fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles; but, if we 
recur to what has been developed in our preceding inquiries, 
who can have any difficulty with it ? The fulfilling of the 
times of the Gentiles is simply the winding up of the affairs 
of the present Gentile church at Christ's second manifesta- 
tion, — the day of judgment to the Gentile nations and church, 
as Christ's first coming brought after it the day of judgment 
to the old Jewish nation and church. And when this day of 
judgment to the Gentiles comes, and the period is fulfilled 
when the present economy of Gentile ascendency is to be 
closed, then the Savior says, Jerusalem shall be trodden down 
no longer ; that is to say, it will be restored, and the nation 
whom it represents, and whose heart it was, is and ever shall 
be, shall again occupy its ancient place in more than its ancient 
grandeur. 

A second New Testament passage on the subject is that 
which I have already quoted, where Paul says, "All Israel 
shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion 
the Deliverer, and shdl turr away ungodliness from Jacob." 



188 THE LAST TIMES. 

This is generally understood as a spiritual salvation by con- 
version to Messiah. And a spiritual deliverance is certainly 
a prominent and controlling idea in the passage. Jt is ex- 
pressly stated that one feature is the removal of ungodliness. 
But this interpretation by no means exhausts the passage. It 
has an appendage in the succeeding verse which throws much 
additional light and consequence upon the predicted deliver- 
ance. Paul says that this salvation is just what was included 
in God's ancient covenant with the Jewish fathers. "All 
Israel shall be saved, for this is God's covenant unto them 
when he shall take away their si?is." Now, if we can ascer- 
tain in full what that covenant is, we will have in full what 
this salvation and deliverance includes. We go back, then, 
to the Old Testament, where this covenant is repeatedly an- 
nounced and recorded. We read the fifteenth chapter of 
Genesis. We there nod that, by sundry miraculous mani- 
festations, "the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, say- 
ing, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of 
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates : the Kenites, 
and the Kenizites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and 
the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the 
Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebuzites." In the 
next chapter we read again : — " God talked with him, saying, 
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt 
be a father of many nations, (or multitudes.) .... And I will 
establish my covenant between me and thee, and to thy seed 
after thee, in their generations for an everlasting covenant; 
to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will 
give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, THE LAND wherein 
thou art a stranger, (sojourner,) all the land of Canaan for 
an everlasting possessions and I will be their God." To 
Isaac it was subsequently said, " Sojourn in this land, for 
unto thee and unto thy seed will I give these countries, and I 
will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy 



god's COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. 189' 

Father." And so the dying Jacob testifies : — " God Almighty 
appeared unto me and said unto me, Behold, I will .... give 
this land to thy seed after thee FOR AN everlasting posses- 
sion :" (Gen. xlviii.) 

And if any one supposes that this is not the covenant of 
which Paul speaks, then let us turn to what God calls "a new 
covenant with the house of Israel," and see whether the same 
features are not included. We read the latter part of the 
thirty-first of Jeremiah. A glorious spiritual renewal is there 
promised. They shall know the Lord, and he will forgive their 
iniquity and remember their sin no more. But this is not all. 
The language is as strong as words and imagery can make it. 
Jehovah points to the enduring orbs of immensity, and 
declares that " the seed of Israel" shall no more " cease from 
being a nation before him forever" than the sun, moon and 
stars shall disappear from the universe. Nay, more: — " Behold, 
the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to 
the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the 
corner. It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down ANY 
more forever." This prophecy cannot refer to the return 
from Babylon, for all were not then converted and pious ; and 
since then their sin has been remembered, and their city 
rendered more awfully desolate than ever it was left by 
Assyrian kings. Nay, I take the broad ground, and no man 
can overturn it, that God's covenant to Abraham and his seed' 
has never yet been even nearly fulfilled. Its great fullness is 
still matter of promise, to be verified hereafter, when Christ 
shall " come a second time unto salvation." That covenant 
charters to them the land from the river of Egypt to the 
great river Euphrates, for their everlasting possession ; which 
has never yet been made good. That covenant guarantees 
unto them a national existence and glory as lasting as the 
great orbs of heaven which yet remains to be fulfilled. 
Wherever the terms ot that covenant are given, from first to 



190 THE LAST TIMES. 

last these are two of its prominent and immutable features. 
And if "all Israel is to be saved," according to that cove- 
nant which Paul explicitly declares to be unchangeable, — 
" without repentance/' — it is demonstrated to an absolute 
certainty that they will yet be gathered and replaced in that 
"goodly land and large" in which they dwelt when David 
controlled their triumphant armies and Solomon and his court 
were the admiration of the world. 

A third reference to this subject in the New Testament is 
contained in the first of Acts, where the disciples put to the 
Savior their last question: — "Lord, wilt thou at this time 
restore the kingdom to Israel?" What did they mean by 
that inquiry ? Every preacher, commentator and thoughtful 
Bible-reader will tell you that the Jews looked for the Mes- 
siah as a reigning prince. For many years they had been a 
dependent and oppressed people. In the period of the 
Savior's stay on earth, they were subject to the dominion of 
the Caesars. And their great hope was, that when Christ 
came he would judge their oppressors, deliver them from 
their national dejection, and restore their state and kingdom to 
former independence and glory. The disciples shared in the 
common expectation. Hence their despondency at his cruci- 
fixion, saying, " We trusted that it had been he which should 
have redeemed Israel." They felt all their fond hopes crushed 
in the Savior's death. But as soon as he arose from the dead 
and reappeared among them, their old hopes revived, and they 
looked anew for the Messiah's deliverance of their nation. 
And this was the burden of their question as here presented. 
They wished to know if Christ was then about to effect the 
expected national redemption, and " restore the kingdom to 
Israel." The question then arises, Were their anticipations 
respecting this redemption right or wrong ? I maintain that 
they were right. If they were not right, then I am at a loss 
to account for the fact that these anticipations retained their 



THE HOPE SANCTIONED BY OUR SAVIOR. 191 

full force through three or four years of special daily in- 
struction from the Savior himself, and continued uppermost 
in their minds to the very last moment of Christ's stay upon 
earth. Then again, if they were all this while cherishing 
erroneous expectations in this matter, would not the Savior 
have set them right now that he was at the point of leaving 
them until his final " coming and kingdom" ? But look at 
his answer. Not one word did he utter against the views im- 
plied in their question. All he said was, " It is not for you to 
know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in 
his own power." They did not ask him whether he would 
restore the kingdom to Israel ; they took all that as settled ; 
and the Savior answered them upon the same assumption. 
They simply wished to know whether that was the time, and 
the answer was that they were not to know the time. As 
regards every thing but the time, the reply leaves it just as it 
was apprehended by the inquirers. And, taking the circum- 
stances and all together, it is to me perfectly conclusive that 
it is the divine intention to " restore the kingdom to Israel" 
in the exact sense in which the disciples expected it; and 
that the blessed Savior, in his last words, meant to throw his 
solemn sanction upon the hope of Israel's restoration. I have 
no interest in forcing or perverting the Scriptures from their 
plain and obvious meaning, and if I did not solemnly believe 
what I here state I would not utter it. 

A fourth allusion which the New Testament contains upon 
this subject, is in the fifteenth of Acts, where James says, 
"Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the 
Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to 
this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After 
this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of 
David which is fallen down; and I will build again the 
ruins thereof and I will set it up : that the residue of men 



192 THE LAST TIMES. 

might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom 
my name is called, saith the Lord." 

Two things are here to be specially noted. The first is the 
object of the present dispensation; which is, to take out of 
the Gentiles a people for God's name. I have heretofore 
shown that there is nothing in the Scriptures to warrant the 
hope that the world is to be converted before Christ comes 
the second time. The whole object of the present economy 
is, to take out from among men a people for the Lord. This 
is here pointedly declared. But James goes further. He 
assures us that it is the purpose of God, as announced by the 
prophets, to return after the object of this dispensation has 
been attained, and then to u build again the tabernacle of 
David which is fallen down." And in order to understand 
what is meant by this rebuilding of David's tabernacle, we 
need only revert to the original prophecy in the ninth of Amos, 
which treats of Israel's dispersion for their sins, and their re- 
demption in the latter days, "that they may possess the rem- 
nant of Edom, and of all the Gentiles, and be pulled out of 
their land no more." Surely the matter is as plain as words 
can make it, that, at the end of this dispensation, Christ will 
come and restore the scattered Jews to their own land, and 
reign over the house of Jacob forever upon the throne of his 
father David. 

There are still other allusions to this subject in the New 
Testament ; but I have not the time to give them now. It is 
more especially in the Old Testament that we are to seek the 
amplest details of Israel's hopes. That is peculiarly the 
gospel of the Jews. The prophecies there on record respect- 
ing the conversion and restoration of Jacob's seed may well 
be pronounced by Bishop Newton to be innumerable. There 
is hardly a chapter from Psalms to Malachi which does not in 
some way bear upon it. To give all, we would have to recite 
about half of all that the prophets have written. 



OLD TESTAMENT AILUSIONS TO THE SUBJECT. 193 

Lei me refer you to a *ew specimens. 

Look at the text and its contiguous parts : — " Thus saith the 
Urrd : Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among 
the Gentiles, whither they be gone, and will gather them on 
every side, and bring them into their own land." What 
could be plainer than this ? It is useless to say that it refers 
to the deliverance from Babylon ; for this prediction relates to 
"the whole house of Israel," whilst only parts of Judah and 
Benjamin ever returned from the Babylonian captivity. The 
restoration here predicted is to be attended with the everlast- 
ing reunion of the two wings of the great Israelitish schism, 
so that they shall "not be divided into two kingdoms any 
more at all;" which to this day has not taken place. This 
restoration is to be perpetual, "forever;" the restoration from 
Babylon was only temporary. This restoration is to be at- 
tended with the ultimate entire conversion of the whole 
nation, and an everlasting release from all their filthiness and 
sins; but they have involved themselves deeper in crime 
since they came back from Babylon than before, and even 
murdered the Messiah. 

Neither will it answer to say that the restoration here pre- 
dicted is to be understood spiritually, as referring to the final 
conversion of the Jewish people, and their incorporation into 
the Christian church. The church is no more their land than 
it is the land of Gentile believers. The prophecy sets forth 
their spiritual renovation in words sufficiently plain to need no 
further spiritualizing ; thus leaving- us to infer that the other 
particulars are to be understood in the same plain and obvious 
sense. The prophecy also contains a promise of the multipli- 
cation of man and beast, which certainly cannot apply to the 
church unless our sanctuaries are yet to be filled with the 
brute creation. The same prophecy promises to Israel their 
old estates, — "I will settle them after their old estates," '— > 
which, whether taken in a spiritual or a literal sense, necessa- 
N 17 



194 THE LAST TIMES. 

rily implies their restoration to a condition of isolation aud 
distinctness from all other orders or races of men. But this 
is not all. If the reeratherino- and restoration of the Jewish 
people into their own land is to be understood spiritually, then 
their deportation from that land and dispersion must be un- 
derstood spiritually too. The one must correspond to the 
other. The same prediction contains both sides, in the same 
strain of discourse; and the 'promise of the restoration is 
founded on the predicate of their previous dispersion. Hence, 
if the one is spiritual, the other is equally spiritual ; and if 
the one is literal and outward, so also must the other be. God 
himself, speaking upon this very subject, has settled this point 
forever. " It shall come to pass, that like as I have watched 
over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, 
and to afflict ; so will I watch over them to build, and to 
plant, saith the Lord :" (Jer. xxxi. 28.) Here, then, I take 
my stand with unflinching firmness, and upon the immutable 
basis of God's own word, demand of you either to show that 
the spoiling was only spiritual, or else admit that their final 
restoration is to be national and literal. If Titus only took 
the church, and not the literal city, — if he only cast the Jews 
out of the church, and did not kill them or carry them away 
captives, — if he did not devastate and depopulate Palestine, 
but only intercepted God's spiritual blessings by desolating 
the ways to eternal life, — then, but only then, can this pro- 
mised regathering of Israel into their own land be interpreted 
so as to preclude their national restoration. U I will gather 
them" saith God, "and bring them into their own land." 

The same literal restoration of the exiled descendants of 
Jacob is foretold by Moses, in his farewell address to that 
people. We theie have a graphic delineation of the whole 
history of Israel up to the present and still future times. 
Moses there foretells a sore and wide dispersion ; but he pre- 
dicts with equal explicitness a final and complete recovery 



THE PROPHECY IN ISAIAH XI. 195 

from it. " The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and 
have compassion upon thee, and will gather thee from all the 
nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any 
of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from 
thence icill the Lord thy God fetch thee : and the Lord thy 
God will bring thee into THE LAND WHICH THY FATHER POS- 
SESSED, AND THOU SHALT POSSESS IT : and he will multiply 
thee above thy fathers:" (Deut. xxx.) Never, to this day, 
has there occurred to Israel such a deliverance, from such a 
dispersion. And the idea that this prediction is to be fulfilled 
by the simple incorporation of the Jews into the existing 
church, is worse than ridiculous. They are, therefore, to be 
restored. 

Isaiah, also, has spoken most pointedly upon this subject. 
In his eleventh chapter we have a glowing prophecy, which 
all treat as referring to the millennial times. And in that 
prophecy we find it written, " It shall come to pass in that 
DAY, that the Lord shall set his hand again, THE SECOND 
TIME, to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left 
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from 
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath : 
and from the isles of the sea, and he shall set up an ensign 
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Lsrael, and 
gather together the dispersed of Judah" — the whole Jewish 

race — u from the four corners of the earth And there 

shall be an highway for the remnant of his people which shall 
be left from Assyria ; like as it WAS TO Israel in the 

DAY THAT HE CAME UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT." Will 

any man say that such a prophecy as this has ever been ful- 
filled, or includes no more than the conversion of the Jews to 
Christianity? Was the deliverance from Egypt a mere join- 
ing of the church ? Yet here we have G-od's solemn promise 
a second time to recover the remnant of his people, to gather 
Israel and Judah from the four corners of the earth, and to 



196 THE LAST TIMES. 

provide a way for them, "like as it was to Israel in the day 
that he came up out of the land of Egypt." 

Brethren, what you think of these things, I know not ; but 
I am fully persuaded that it is God's immutable purpose to 
bring back the Jewish race to its ancient home. The passages 
which I have given more than prove it ; whilst the great mass 
of prophecy upon the subject has not been touched. And if 
even all these solemn statements of God were to pass for no- 
thing, the simple but significant facts of history furnish ground 
enough upon which to infer that Israel is yet to be restored 
to that land where Abraham lived and the Savior died. 

Look at that wonderful race ! For nearly two thousand 
years, scattered all over the face of the earth, oppressed, de- 
spised, persecuted, unmercifully butchered; yet still existing, 
as distinct in manners, feelings and hopes, as when Moses was 
their leader and Aaron was their priest. Since God shook 
them out of their ancient dwelling-places, nations, thrones, 
kingdoms, have risen, flourished, fallen, and lost their proud 
subjects in the ever- varying stream of human affairs; but 
Israel still stands apart, unshaken by earth's mutations, with 
the accents of David and Isaiah still upon their lips, and 
still looking for the promised Shiloh to take them back in 
triumph to their father-land. The Christian church herself, 
glorious as she is in her list of martyrs and attirements of 
grace and truth, has, since then, been depressed, diminished, 
enfeebled, by violence and defections which she has found it 
hard to survive ; but the house of Jacob, with all their wrongs 
and spoliations, have only strengthened with their trials, whilst 
all the bitterness of their great cup of sorrow has never made 
them forget that they were Hebrews, or loosened the tenacity 
with which they cling to God's peculiar covenant unto them 
Kings have issued severe edicts and commissioned bloody exe- 
cutioners against them, and the seditious and spiteful multi- 
tudes have afflicted them with outrages still more violent and 



JERUSALEM. 197 

tragical. Princes and people, civilized and savage, Pagans, 
Mahometans, and professing Christians, disagreeing in so 
many things, have more than once made common cause for 
their extermination. But still they live and thrive. Though 
for nearly twenty centuries without a temple, prophet, king, 
country, or home, they still bear the same marks which cha- 
racterized them before Vespasian set foot on their sacred land 
or Titus invested their loved Jerusalem. 

Look, again, at their holy city. " Captured, ravaged, burnt, 
razed to the foundation, dispeopled, its deported citizens sold 
into slavery, and forbidden by severest penalties to visit their 
native seats •" yet, even in its mournful desolations, it stands 
forth, a thing to itself, and altogether distinguished from all 
other ruins. Who now weeps over the fall of Troy? What 
people pays pilgrimages of devotion to the ruin-piles of mighty 
Nineveh or Babylon? These great monuments of human 
pride and glory sleep their last sleep, and no tear falls upon 
their unhonored graves. But Jerusalem, even in her ashes, 
is still dear to the hearts of millions, and the mere mention of 
that name awakens pangs of mingled grief and hope as deep 
as those that weighed upon her captive sons when they 
mourned under the willows by Babel's waters. Beautifully 
has it been said, that "ever and anon, and from sill the winds 
of heaven, Zion's exiled children come to visit her, and, with 
eyes weeping sore, bewail her widowhood. No city was ever 
honored thus. None else thus receives pilgrimages from the 
fiftieth generation of its outcast population. None but this, 
after centuries of such dispersion, could, at the first call, 
gather beneath its wings the whole of its wide-wandering 
family. None but this has possessed a spell sufficient to keep 
its people still distinct, even in remotest regions, and in the 
face of the mightiest inducements. And none but itself can 
now be repeopled with precisely the same race which left it 
nearly two thousand years ago." 

17* 



198 THE LAST TIMES. 

Now, what mean these anomalous, I might say, miraculous, 
facts ? Why are the Jewish people still distinct, and Jeru- 
salem's walls still dear, as ever? Why have Jacob's seed 
always refused to hold lands anywhere hut in Palestine, and 
Jerusalem always refused to give permanent habitation to any 
but them ? Meet a Jew where you will, he is a mere wanderer 
or sojourner, ready to move., at the shortest warning. Scat- 
tered over all lands beneath the sun, he has never taken root 
in any. And of all that have ever tried to fix themselves in 
the Holy Land, — Romans and Persians, Saracens and Turks, 
Egyptian Caliphs and Latin Christians, Mamelukes and Ot- 
tomans, — none have ever been able to gain a permanent foot- 
hold in it. Why is all this? Men of political science 
may try their skill at explanation ; but, after all, the problem 
will reduce itself to this : that God has his own settled purpose 
with this people and this place, holding the one in reserve for 
the other until each shall be forever satisfied with its own. 
Here, history is prophecy. And if all the holy seers were 
silent, the very stones themselves cry out for Israel's restora- 
tion. The rocks of Palestine will have no lord but Jacob. 

I am, therefore, prepared to adopt the statement of David 
N. Lord, a very profound and able American expositor 
of sacred prophecy, that " those who assent to the true laws 
of language and symbols will no more deny or doubt that the 
prophecies teach that the Israelites are to be restored, than 
those who assent to the definitions and axioms of geometry 
will deny the demonstrations that are founded on them. There 
is not a proposition in the whole circle of human knowledge 
of more perfect certainty than that Grod has revealed the pur- 
pose of regathering that scattered nation, establishing them as 
his chosen people, and reappointing a temple-worship at Jeru- 
salem that is to embrace some of their ancient rites. It is 
not merely certain, but is taught with a frequency, an em- 
phasis and an amplitude, and invested with a dignity and 



HOW THE JEWISH RESTORATION WILL BEGIN. 199 

grandeur that are proportionable to the vastness and wonder- 
fulness of the measure in the great scheme of his administra- 
tion over the world." The descendants of Jacob are specifi- 
cally, and in many places, spoken of as the subjects of a long 
and painful dispersion and depression, which we see literally 
verified before our eyes. The same passages, with the same 
explicitness, affirm of this same people, that they shall be de- 
livered from their oppressions, regathered from their disper- 
sions, restored to the land which their fathers possessed, and 
forever secured against any similar calamity. The countries 
from which they are to come; the manner in which they are 
to come; the very methods of their conveyance, on horses, 
and mules, and dromedaries, in chariots, in litters, and in 
ships, and in swift-moving vehicles, which some have taken as 
a description of railroads ; all are specifically noted. And how 
any student of these things can rise up and say that the doc- 
trine of Israel's restoration is a fable, I cannot understand. 

The return of this wonderful people will doubtless begin, in 
a small way, under what some will call the natural course of 
things. There are even now already thousands of Jews in 
Jerusalem and its vicinity. A goodly portion of the Holy 
Land is at this moment under mortgages in the hands of those 
rich Jewish bankers, the Rothschilds, of Europe, The effects 
of the peace just concluded between the great powers of the 
Old World, in securing toleration of other religions under 
the Turkish laws, is at once the signal for the downfall of the 
Ottoman empire, and the opening of the door for Israel's 
return. Many religious associations in all parts of Protestant 
Christendom are in efficient operation with and for the Jews, 
all looking more or less to their ultimate restoration. These 
things, all working in the line of Israel's intense desires, can- 
not but work mighty consequences. They are the prelimina- 
ries of the second Jewish exodus. 

But it is not by these alone that Israel shall be redeemed. 



200 THE LAST TIMES. 

According to the eighteenth of Isaiah, and other passages, there 
will yet be great national movements upon the subject. We 
there read of a great maritime power, spreading wide its 
wings, existing somewhere in the Far West from Palestine, and 
which must either be the United States, Great Britain, or 
perhaps both, as one in religion, language and laws. This 
power, accustomed to send messengers by sea, is to become 
interested in behalf of the Jews, and to aid them with con- 
tributions, embassies, treaty-stipulations, fleets and other 
ways. The prophet himself calls to this power, (I use 
Horseley's translation,) " Ho ! land spreading wide the shadow 
of thy wings !" and he gives it its commission, " Go;" which 
would seem to indicate that it will be from the study of pro- 
phecy, and from the will of God as thus presented, that men 
shall be roused up to this work. " Go, as a swift messenger, 
to a people wonderful from the beginning hitherto, a nation 
expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, whose land 
rivers (invading armies) have spoiled ; and all the inhabit- 
ants of the world, and dwellers upon earth, shall see the lifting 
tip, as it were, of a banner upon the mountains ; and shall hear 
the sounding, as it were, of a trumpet." That is, as I under- 
stand it, when these movements in favor of the Jews begin, 
there will be an extraordinary waking up upon the subject, 
and a very deep interest felt, so that men generally will regard 
themselves as specially called to help in the great work. And 
it is a singular fact, in this connection, that the United States 
government, without any assignable cause for it, did, only a 
few years ago, send out Lieut. Lynch and his party, to explore 
the Jordan and obtain detailed and authentic descriptions 
of the condition and topography of Israel's land. England 
has done the same, as if these countries, so closely allied in so 
many particulars, were already laying the foundations for their 
work and mission in bringing back the dispersed children of 
Abraham. 



PROPHETIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RESTORATION. 201 

But I have no expectation that any thing very decisive or 
extraordinary will occur in the line of the Jewish restoration, 
until God's judgments shall begin to tear asunder the nations. 
There is first to be a "pruning," " a taking away of luxuriant 
branches," "a leaving to the mountain-birds of prey;" and 
only "at that season a present shall be led to Jehovah of 
hosts, of a people dragged away and plucked ; even of a people 
wonderful from their beginning hitherto ; a nation expecting , 
expecting, and trampled under foot, whose land rivers have 
spoiled, unto the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, 
Mount Zion ;" (Isa. xviii. 7.) "When the " distress of 
nations with perplexity" shall have fully set in, and the day 
of earth's troubles has come, then the people of Israel shall 
flock home, like doves to their windows ; and the Lord himself 
shall show wonders in their favor, like to the day that he 
brought them up out of Egypt. The last chapter of Isaiah 
tells of manifestations of divine power, mercy and consolation, 
and says, "When ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and 
your bones shall flourish like an herb ) and the hand of the 
Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indig- 
nation toward his enemies. For behold, the Lord will come 
with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind; to render his 
anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by 
fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and 
the slain of the Lord shall be many. . . . And I will set up a 
sign among them, and I will send those that escape 
op them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, 
that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, 
that have not heard my fame, neither seen my glory ; and 
they (that escape God's terrific judgment upon Israel's 
enemies') shall declare my glory among the Gentiles; and 
they (the Gentiles) shall bring all your brethren 
(the prophet's brethren, the Jews) for an offering unto the 
Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in 



202 THE LAST TIMES. 

coaches, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, (rapid 
vehicles,) to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord." 

The accompaniments and great results of this final resto- 
ration of the Jewish people are so wonderful and miraculous, 
that it is hardly possible for us to form a proper conception of 
them. Within fifty years from this present time, perhaps the 
whole story will be told. One thing is certain, that Israel's 
restoration is not for Israel alone, but for the whole world. It 
is one of those means, in the wonderful arrangements of God, 
for letting forth his mercy and salvation upon all the inhabit- 
ants of the earth. It is in the seed of Abraham that all 
nations shall be blessed. Israel's restoration shall be the 
world's resurrection. Paul says, " If the fall of them be the 
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches 
of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness ? If the 
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what 
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" 
(Rom. xi. 12, 15.) This return will itself be a fulfillment of 
prophecy so startling that it will open men's eyes as they 
never have been opened, and make them feel the power of 
divine truth and the reality of Jehovah's sovereignty as they 
never have felt them. The Bible will suddenly become a new 
book, and beam forth a new light and speak with a more 
potent authority. In the language of Hamilton, "The 
moment the vail is rent from Israel's eyes, the vail will 
be rent from a thousand prophecies ; and, read in the light 
of restored and regenerated Judah, the word of God will 
sparkle with unwonted coruscations, and, like deep-colored 
gems that look dusty in cloud-light, many of its dark sayings 
will brighten up into its divinest truths when the beams 
break forth from Salem." 

The thorough cleansing and renewal which will pass upon 
the Jewish pec pie, and God's wonderful manifestations in 



Jerusalem's coming greatness. 203 

their behalf, shall speak like a new revelation to the hearts 
and consciences of men ; and " many people, and strong 
nations, shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, 
and to pray before the Lord ; and ten men out of all languages 
of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a 
Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that 
God is with you :" (Zech. viii. 12.) All Israel shall then 
own the Messiah, and be fully and forever converted unto 
him, not by the slow processes of present evangelization, but 
by wonderful manifestations from God, as in the case of Paul, 
their distinguished type: (1 Tim. i. 16.) Noble saintship 
and Davidic zeal shall again be found in Judah. " He that is 
feeble among them shall be as David ; and the house of David 
shall be as Elohim, the Jehovah angel, before them :" (Zech. 
xii. 8.) The times of the Gentiles being fulfilled, Jacob's 
trouble shall be over and the grand Sabbath of the world 
begin. Christ shall sit upon the throne of his father David, 
and reign over the house of Jacob forever; and "they shall 
call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord." According to "the 
word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw," not concerning the 
church, but concerning Judah and Jerusalem, "the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top 
of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all 
nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, 
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to 
the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his 
ways, and we will walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go 
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem :" 
(Isa. ii. 1-3.) "And the Lord shall be King over all 
the earth :" (Zech. xiv. 8.) This world shall then have 
embraced its rightful Sovereign, and the hearts of its great 
nations shall beat in unison with heaven. 

Nor need you be surprised, my brethren, when, in the light 
of these prophecies, I declare the conviction that Jerusalem 



204 THE LAST TIMES. 

is yet to become the metropolis of the world, just as it was 
the metropolis of Judea in the days of Solomon. All the 
nations of this world are yet to come under one universal 
government, — the kingdom of Christ and his glorified saints. 
" God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is 
above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord:" (Phil. ii. 10.) "Now we see not yet all things put 
under him:" (Heb. ii. 8.) But "He must reign until he 
hath put all enemies under his feet:" (1 Cor. xv. 25.) "The 
Gentiles must be given him as his inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for his possession :" (Ps. ii. 8.) He 
has declared himself to be appointed King of the Jews, and 
Prince of the kings of the earth : (Matt, xxvii. 11 ; Rev. i. 
5.) " The kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms 
of our Lord and of his Christ ; and he shall reign forever and 
ever :" (Rev. xi. 15.) And the centre and seat of this great 
kingdom is Jerusalem. " The Lord of hosts shall reign" — 
where? — "in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before 
his ancients gloriously :" (Isa. xxiv. 23.) " The Lord also shah 
roar" — from whence ? — " out of Zion, and utter his voice 
from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; 
but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength 
of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the 
Lord your Grod, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain : then 
shall Jerusalem be holy :" (Joel iii. 16, 17.) Nay, as there 
is to be a literal reign of the Son of man on earth, where is it 
most likely that his imperial seat will be ? What locality does 
the mind most naturally turn to ? The holy associations and 
the very geographical position of Palestine mark it out with 
signal felicity as the place where the Son of Mary shall hold his 
sublime court. As remarked by one who has looked carefully 
at the matter, "Palestine is so remarkably situated, that it 
forms the bridge between two continents and a gateway to a 



IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY LAND. 205 

third. Were the population and wealth of Europe, Asia and 
Africa condensed into single points, Palestine would be the- 
centre of their common gravity. And with the amazing 
facilities of modern intercourse, and the prodigious extent of 
modern traffic, it is not easy to estimate the commercial 
grandeur to which a kingdom may attain, planted as it were 
on the very apex of the old world, with its three continents 
spreading out beneath its feet, and with the Red Sea on one 
side to bring it all the golden treasurer, and spicy harvests of 
the East, and the Mediterranean floating in on the other side 
all the skill and enterprise and knowledge of the West. 
For the sake of higher ends it seems the purpose of God to 
make the Holy Land a mart of nations, and, by bringing the 
forces of the G-entiles to Jerusalem, to send the blessing of 
Abraham over all the earth." 

It is also well known that ever since the Jews first entered 
Canaan, it has been the battle-ground of nations. To this 
hour it is mixed up with the mightiest disputes that disturb 
the world. The Assyrian, the Egyptian and the Roman of 
old, the Arab, the Turk, the Greek, the Papist and the 
Rabbi of our times, all have claimed it as if the earth con- 
tained not another prize like it. The late war, which converted 
the Crimea into a Golgotha and made the world tremble, had 
its beginning in Jerusalem, in disputes and altercations about 
its shrines and holy places. And the history of the world is 
filled with illustrations of the desirableness that has ever 
adhered to that " goodly land," and of the interests involved 
in its occupation. Ages have rolled around it as the spot of 
decision on which the question of supremacy is suspended. 
And divine prophecy, sounding through the long galleries of 
centuries, proclaims the fact that all the nations shall yet be 
governed from that point. 

Men may think I dream, but I must take God's word as 
meaning what it says. The day is coming when the world 

18 



206 THE LAST TIMES. 

shall join in that glad song of David, u Beautiful for situation , 
the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, THE CITY OF the. 
great King i" That wonderful people, the scattered relics 
of a mighty nation, shall come back to their ancient home. 
From the North and the South, from the East and the West, 
they shall come with singing unto Zion. "And they shall 
build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant 
vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and they shall no more 
be pulled out of their land which I have given them, saith the 
Lord :" (Amos ix. 14, 15.) Jehovah Elohim shall come down 
again, more glorious than when of old he dwelt in cloud and 
flame in the Holy of Holies, even Jesus in his own glorified 
humanity; and they shall say, "Lo! this is our God! we have 
waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have 
waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation :" 
(Isa. xxv. 9.) Jerusalem's light shall then have come and 
the glory of the Lord have risen upon her, and she shall 
arise and shine. Gentiles shall come to her light, and kings 
to the brightness of her rising. Her sons shall come from 
far, and her daughters shall be nursed at her side. The 
abundance of the sea shall be turned to her, and the wealth 
of the Gentiles shall come unto her. The multitude of 
camels shall come up, — the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; 
all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and in- 
cense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All 
the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto her. The 
rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto her; they shall come up 
with acceptance on God's altar, and he will glorify the house of 
his glory. The nation and kingdom that will not serve her 
shall perish, and be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon 
shall come unto her, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box 
together, to beautify the place of God's sanctuary; and he will 
make the place of his feet glorious. The sons of them that 
afflicted her shall come bending unto her, and all they that 



TIIK EARTHLY AND THE HEAVENLY CITY. 207 

despised her shall bow themselves down at the soles of her 
feet; and they shall call her, "The City of the Lord, the 
Ziox of the Holy One of Israel!" (Isa. lx. 14.) 

But Jerusalem below, radiant in all its untold glory, shall 
be but a type and earthy picture of the higher and sublimer 
Jerusalem that is above, — that firmly-founded city for which 
Abraham looked, whose builder and maker is God, — tbat city 
which John saw "descending out of heaven from God, having 
the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, 
even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal." The one is earthly, 
the other is heavenly. The one is built by human hands, the 
other is the workmanship of God himself. The one has a 
population composed of men holy and happy, but men in the 
flesh; the other is the glorious residence of the glorified saints. 
The one shall rest upon the earthly mount; the other shall be 
above the mountains and the hills." The one will need clouds 
and rain, sunshine and peaceful night; the other has no need 
of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of 
God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The 
one shall have its temple and its altars; the other has no tem- 
ple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the 
temple of it. And whilst the sons of Abraham in the flesh 
shall possess Jerusalem that is below, the sons of Abraham by 
faith in Christ, who have come out of great tribulation, and 
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb, shall, in their glorification, have their everlasting bliss 
and home in " the Jerusalem that is above." The relation of 
the one to the other is like that of the Sanctuary to the Holy 
of Holies. The one is the metropolis of the " new earth ;" 
the other of the " new heavens." The "one is suspended in the 
clouds to pour its radiance on the saved nations below : (Rev. 
xxi. 24;) but both belong to the one sublime and wonderful 
economy which is to encompass this planet when once its 
redemption is complete. 



208 THE LAST TIMES. 

All hail to the day when these things shall be fulfilled ! 
The cross shall then give place to the crown, and gladness 
supplant our sighing and tears. Hope shall then change into 
fruition, and the exile reach his eternal home. Oh, let us 
rejoice and give thanks that such promises have been left us. 
Let us stay ourselves upon them and feed upon their precious- 
ness. They are "well-ordered and sure," and cannot dis- 
appoint us. They are all as immutable and abidiDg as God's 
own eternal nature. Time may intervene and great changes 
may occur before they are fulfilled; but, as Jehovah lives, if 
we are Christ's we shall be glorified with him and dwell in the 
city he has prepared. 

THE DAY IS COMING. 

The day is coming — yea, is now at hand — 

When wars shall struggle on the Syrian plains, — 
Wars such as ne'er before have been on earth, 

Nor the sun seen in all his ancient reigns : — 
The day is coming — yea, is now at hand — 

When, urged by Heaven, to her old hallowed ground 
Shall beauteous Solyma lead back her tribes, 

While with sweet tones her Hebrew camps resound. 
Then shall stand still Euphrates ; then shall stop, 

In fierce affright, Nile's many-founted river, 
Then, too, with whirl gigantic, shall the way 

Of the Red Sea cleave wide apart and sever. 
Day of revival ! then shall festal Zion 

To her eternal God build shrine on shrine, — 
High Lebanon and Hermon shout with singing, 

While flowering olives crown their cliffs divine ! 

Poem on the return of Napoleon's ashes to France. 






NINTH DISCOUKSE. 



THE WORLD TO COME — ILLUSTRATED IN THE SCENES OF THE TRANS- 
FIGURATION — THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRIST'S PERSONAL PRESENCE 

THE MINISTRATIONS OF THE GLORIFIED SAINTS THE ABSENCE 

OF ALL POWERS AND AGENCIES OF EVIL THE BLESSING OF THE 

WORLD THROUGH ISRAEL — THE CURSE REPEALED. 



Heb. ii. 5 : The world to iome, whereof we speak. 

These words occur in connection with the apostle's en- 
deavor to impress his Jewish brethren with a sense of the 
greatness and glory of the Lord Jesus and of the salvation 
which is preached in his name. He begins the epistle by 
announcing the Savior to them as the Son of Grod, — the ap- 
pointed heir of all things, — the Maker and upholder of the 
worlds, — the brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
image of his person, who has been exalted to the right hand 
of the Majesty on high. These were sublime statements, and 
needing to be well substantiated to be made acceptable. He, 
therefore, instituted various lines of argument, adapted to 
the Jewish mind and founded upon the Scriptures, which all 
held to be divinely inspired. And as the Jews regarded 
angels as the highest created orders, and as standing next in 
the scale to the eternal Father himself, Paul's first effort was 
to prove from prophecy that Christ is superior to the angels. 
He introduces three points in which this super-angelic dig- 
nity is shown. The first is, that Christ is assigned a higher 
nam& than the angels ; the second is, that he is clothed with 
ft sublimer honor than the angels; and the third is, that 
18* 209 



210 THE LAST TIMES. 

Christ is invested with a sublimer office than the angels,— 
they being only ministering spirits, whilst he is spoken of as a 
divine King, whose throne is forever and ever, and the sceptre 
of whose kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. The princely 
investiture and reign of the Messiah is thus distinctly deduced 
from the Old Testament, and used by the apostle as the sub- 
limest demonstration of the Savior's personal dignity. And 
this Messianic dominion he applies particularly to what is 
hereafter to grow out of the gospel economy. He tells us 
that it is peculiarly " the world to come" over which the Mes- 
siah's reign is to be exercised. "For unto the angels hath 
he not put into subjection the world to come, whereof we 
speak?' thus proceeding upon the implied assumption that it 
has been, by promise, put into subjection to Jesus Christ; 
and that all those allusions to the Savior as a King have their 
chief application and ultimate fulfillment in that "world to 
come." The Messiah's reign and this world to come accord- 
ingly belong together, and coexist in the same period and 
locality. By determining, then, what is meant by this " world 
to come,'' we may form an idea of what is included in the 
Messianic kingdom ; or, if we already know what the consum- 
mated Messianic reign is, and where it is to be, we have it 
already decided what we are to understand by this " world to 
come." 

If any stress is, therefore, to be laid upon the conclusions 
evolved in the preceding discourses, there is no alternative 
left but to understand this world to come as the millennial 
world, or the world as it shall be when Christ shall have re- 
stored the throne of David, and entered upon his glorious 
dominion as the sovereign of the nations and Lord of the 
whole earth. And to this agrees exactly the original word, 
oixou/ievr), which means the habitable earth, — the domiciliated 
globe on which we dwell, — and not some remote supernal 
region, as we sometimes imagine. The world to come, then, 



THE NEW EARTH. 211 

or the oixooiievTjv ttjv fieXAoutrav, as the apostle calls it, is no- 
thing more nor less than this selfsame world of ours in its final 
or millennial condition. This earth is not to be annihilated. 
G-od never obliterates his own creations. The dissolving fires, 
of which Peter speaks, are for " the perdition of ungodly 
men;" and not for the utter depopulation and destruction of 
the whole world. They may consume cities, destroy armies, 
and effect some important meteorological and geological 
changes; but men and nations will survive them and still 
continue to live in the flesh. The earth is to be renovated 
and restored from its present depression and dilapidation, and 
thus become " the new earth" of which the Bible speaks. It 
is to pass through a " regeneration" analogous to that through 
which a man must pass to see the kingdom of God ; but there 
will be a continuity of its elements and existence, just as a 
regenerated man is constitutionally the same being that he 
was before his renewal. It will not be another earth, but the 
same earth under another condition of things. It is now 
laboring under the curse ; but then the curse will have been 
lifted off, and all its wounds healed. At present, it is hardly 
habitable, — no one being able to live in it longer than a few brief 
years; but then men shall dwell in it forever, without know- 
ing what death is. It is now the home of rebellion, injustice 
and guilt ; it will then be the home of righteousness. It is 
now under the domination of Satan ; it will then come under 
the blessed rule of the Prince of peace. Such, at any rate, 
is the hope set before us in the word of God ; and this I hold 
to be "the world to come" of which the text speaks. It 
cannot be any thing else. It cannot be what is commonly 
called heaven ; for the word oUou/ievrj cannot apply to heaven. 
It is everywhere else used exclusively with reference to our 
world. Neither can it be the present gospel dispensation, as 
some have thought ; for that began long before this epistle 
was written, and could not, therefore, have been spoken of by 



212 THE LAST TIMES. 

Paul as yet u to come." We are consequently compelled to 
understand it to mean our own habitable world in its millen- 
nial glory. And as the prophecies concerning the Messiah's 
eternal kingship are here referred to as having their fulfill- 
ment in the subjection of the millennial world to his dominion, 
we are furnished with another powerful argument of Scrip- 
ture in favor of the doctrine of Christ's personal reign as a 
great Prince in this world. Indeed, the Bible is so full of 
this subject, and its inspired writers are so constantly and 
enthusiastically alluding to it, that I am amazed to find so 
many pious and Bible-loving people entirely losing sight of 
it. Ever and anon the Scriptures return to it as the great 
and animating hope of the church in all her adversities and 
depressions; and it does seem to me that we are depriving 
ourselves of much true Christian comfort by the manner in 
which we have been neglecting and thrusting aside that glo- 
rious doctrine. But, as I have already spoken on that subject 
and given some idea of the manner in which the Scriptures 
present it, I will not return to it now. My present object 
is to show, from the Scriptures and by just inferences from 
them, what sort of a world this " world to come" is, and to 
describe, as far as I can, what we are to look for when once 
this earth has been fully subjected to that divine King whose 
throne is forever and ever, and the sceptre of whose kingdom 
is a sceptre of righteousness. 

That "the world to come" is a highly blessed world, and a 
vast improvement upon the present scene of things, will be 
inferred on all hands without argument. It could not be a 
subject of hope if it were not. The Savior himself ex- 
hibited a model of it when in the Mount of Transfiguration; 
from which, perhaps, we may obtain as deep an insight of its 
glories as from any other portion of Scripture. That he de- 
signed that scene as a miniature model of what his future 
coming and kingdom is to be, is obvious. A week before it 



ILLUSTRATION FROM THE TRANSFIGURATION. 213 

occurred, lie told his disciples that " the Son of man shall 
come in the glory of the Father, with his angels or messengers 
with him ;" and that there were some standing there when he 
made the declaration who " should not taste of death till they 
saw the Son of man coming in his kingdom." This coming 
in his kingdom, which some of the disciples were to live to 
see, is not the final advent; for the disciples are all dead, and 
the final advent is still future. Neither is it the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem ; for but one of the apostles lived to see 
that catastrophe, and the Son of man did not then come in 
his kingdom. And yet some of the apostles were to have 
ocular demonstration of the Son of man's coming in his king- 
dom before tasting of death. Search through apostolic his- 
tory as we will, we shall find nothing but the transfiguration 
to which the Savior's words will apply. That, then, was, in 
some sense, the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom. It 
was not, indeed, the coming itself, but it was an earnest and 
picture of it. It was the coming of the Son of man in his 
kingdom, as the bread and wine in the Eucharist are Christ's 
body and blood. Peter says " the power and coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ" are not " cunningly-devised fables." He 
declares that he was certified of their reality by the testimony 
of his own senses. We were eye-witnesses, says he, " when 
we were with Mm in the holy mount." We thus have clear 
inspired testimony that the scene of the transfiguration was a 
demonstrative exhibition of the coming of Jesus in his kingdom. 
Hence, whatever we find in the descriptions of that scene, we 
may confidently expect to be realized in that " world to come 
whereof we speak." As Christ appeared in that glorious 
scene, so he will appear when he returns to this world. As 
he was then personally present as the Son of man, so he will 
be personally present in the millennial kingdom. And as he 
was there attended by different classes of persons, so will hi3 
glorious kingdom consist of similar classes. The first will be 



214 THE LAST TIMES. 

the risen and glorified saints, represented by Moses ; the 
second will be the transformed saints, represented by Elijah 
who was caught up without tasting of death • and the third 
and most numerous class will be those who shall live in the 
body, represented by Peter, James and John, as they bowed 
before his mighty power, and looked with transport and wonder 
on his ineffable glory. 

Let us, then, endeavor to draw out before us some of the 
more striking features of " the world to come," and, by the 
contemplation of its attractiveness, endeavor to school our 
hearts into more ardent thirst to participate in its blissful 
scenes. 

I do not wish to depreciate in the least those gracious 
arrangements of heaven under which we now live. It is a 
blessed thing to have the Bible, and to attend properly on the 
means of grace, and to enjoy the renewing and comforting 
influences of the Holy Ghost. In giving to us these things, 
God has endowed us with mercies for which we never can be 
sufficiently thankful. But he authorizes us to look for greater 
things than these. The present economy is only preparatory 
to something higher and more blessed. 

" "We're now but in creation's vestibule, 
And acting the mere prelude unto joy 
Immortal, universal." 

There is another and more exalted scene of things to follow 
after the present. If we are faithful to our Lord, there re- 
mains for us " a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness/' 
And one of the most remarkable and sublime features of that 
" new earth" is, that it is to have in it the personal, visible 
and illustrious presence of the Son of God, its great King. 
It was the presence of Jesus in his glory that made Peter 
wish to stay in the mountain rather than return again into 
the cold and heartless world below. That glorious presence 



man's DESIRE TO BEIIOLD GOD. 215 

was more than all earth beside. "We may thus gather some 
idea of the preciousness of that promise that "the pure in 
heart shall see God." The mere vision of Christ in his 
glory will be heaven to the soul that leans on him as the 
Redeemer. 

There is no thirst in man more craving than the desire to 
behold God. All the images in heathen temples, and all the 
idolatries of the world, are but expressions of this perpetual 
sigh of humanity. Moses himself coveted most of all things 
to see Him who was accomplishing such wonders by his hand. 
And very few, if any, can pray without first forming to the 
mind some image of God. We are creatures of sense. Ab- 
stract spirit is a cold and uninviting conception. All our 
deepest impressions, and all our ideas, are received by means 
of the outward senses. And there is no glory of God of which 
we can conceive that can possibly be so satisfying and trans- 
portiDg as that of behqiding him, and for ourselves seeing his 
glory. All Christ's sublime teachings did not so impress and 
rejoice the hearts of Peter, James and John, as that one 
short vision of the Savior, as he was transfigured before them. 
Not all the sublime experiences of Moses so satisfied him, as 
when G-od gave him some visible manifestation of his glory. 
When John sums up the highest prospects of believers, he 
makes their fullest satisfaction and rapture depend on seeing 
Jesus as he is. And Peter, when he came to his strongest 
reason for holding Christianity to be a reality, referred to what 
he had witnessed on the holy mount. It was a glad thing to 
see Jesus, even in his humiliation. We sometimes wish that 
we had lived in those days, that we might have looked upon 
his face and heard the tones of his voice. If we could refer 
to but one slight glimpse of him, we would treasure it as a 
blissful thing. We would ever recur to it with pleasure. If 
there were now a spot on earth where we could see him even 
as he then was, millions would spaie no expense or pains to 



216 THE LAST TIMES. 

gain a look upon him, and multitudes would throng to the 
place, crying, "Sirs, we would see Jesus!" And if it would 
be a high and lawful gratification to see Christ as he once lived 
on earth, how sublime would be the portion of seeing him in 
the glory of his kingdom ! Would it not afford a certainty to 
our faith, and a rapture to our hearts, worth living for ? Look 
at the case of the queen of Sheba, when she came to see the 
glory of Solomon, — the type of the greater than Solomon. 
She had " heard of his fame concerning the name of the 
Lord," as we have heard of Christ and his glory; but there 
was an air of romance about it which made her doubtful, just 
as many even Christian people are with respect to revelation. 
There was something wanting to complete her enjoyment. 
She needed yet to see the reality of which she had heard. To 
secure this, a journey of months through exposure and dan- 
gers she deemed of small account. " And when she had seen 
all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and 
the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the 
standing of his ministers, and their apparel, and his ascent by 
which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more 
spirit in her ;" she fainted for very ecstasy. Now she could 
say that it was a true report which she had heard, and that 
the half had not been told her. Never could she have for- 
gotten that visit. Never could that vision of Solomon's glory 
have passed from her delighted memory. Never did it cease 
from being a sunny spot in her recollection to which to recur 
as the happiest event of her life. And if the sight of the 
glory of the mere human type of the Messiah was thus trans- 
porting and overpowering, what a joy would it be for the 
Christian to see the blessed Jesus himself in the glory of his 
ineffable kingdom? If to see Solomon's grandeur was an 
event worth living for, who shall estimate the heavenly rapture 
of beholding the Savior on his high throne of glory, clothed 
with light as with a garment, crowned with all the sublime 



BLISS t)F THE MILLENNIUM. * 217 

beneficence of heaven, thousands ministering unto him, ten 
thousand thousands standing before him, and multitudes of 
celestial spirits ever shouting to his praise, " Holy, holy, holy, 
Lord God Almighty!" Would it not be a high privilege to 
see all this ? Would it not fill out the believer's joy, and 
establish him in the certainties and raptures of his faith, as 
nothing else can ? Would it not set his whole nature in a 
glow with heavenly inspiration, land consecrate him as a new 
apostle just from the third heaven ? Would it not impart a 
richer pleasure, and a more satisfying joy, than all the gifts 
of Pentecost? 

From this we may, then, infer something of the bliss of 
millennial times, when Christ shall be upon earth, arrayed in 
all the glory of his kingdom. Then we shall see him as he is. 
The glorified saints shall ever be near hi in, in the closest com- 
munion with him, for he is their brother as well as their Re- 
deemer and King. And those who live in the flesh shall not 
be excluded from near visions of his glory and rapturous 
approaches to his person and presence. The ransomed nations 
shall continually send up their streams of worshippers to Jeru- 
salem, where they shall " see the King in his beauty" and 
receive his communications, and be made glad in his favors. 
Then, with overflowing hearts, shall men say, "It was a true 
report which we heard; our eyes now have seen ; and, behold, 
the half was not told us V Doubt and unbelief will then be 
no more. Harassing fears will be cast out. Christ's existence, 
triumphs and unspeakable glories will then be visibly demon- 
strated, and the world shall be lifted out of the grave of its 
darkness and misgivings into the glorious light and liberty of 
the sons of God. For if Christ's presence in the transfigura- 
tion converted the rugged mount into all that Peter could 
desire of heaven, his sublime and gracious presence in his 
kingdom cannot make this world less than a paradise of 

God. 

19 



218 THE LAST TIMES. 

"Oh, the delights, the heavenly joys, 
The glories, of the place 
Where Jesus sheds the brightest beams 
Of his unveiled face !" 

A second great feature of the " new earth/ ' or " world to 
conie," is the exaltation, presence and ministrations of the 
church of the first-born. Paul tells us, that when Christ 
comes, the holy dead shall Be raised, and the pious living 
changed, and both these classes together enter into their high 
and peculiar estate. These will the Savior bring with him, and 
have associated with him in the princedom and sublimities of 
his glorious empire. They shall then have spiritual and glo- 
rified bodies, like the glorious body of their Lord. They will 
not return to the earthy life which they once lived in the 
flesh ; but they shall live a life like that which Jesus lives. 
They shall be in the closest union with Christ, for they con- 
stitute his Bride, and are to " be ever with the Lord." His 
delight shall be in them, and their delight shall be in him. 
They will share in his glories, and be partakers of his throne. 
They are to "reign with Christ." They are to judge angels 
and judge the world. The twelve apostles are to have twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Having over- 
come, and kept the Savior's sayings to the end, they shall 
have power over the nations. He that has been faithful over 
five talents shall have dominion over five cities ; and he that 
has been faithful over ten talents shall have dominion over 
ten cities ; every man according as his work has been. And 
so "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the 
kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints 
of the Most High." They are to sit on thrones, and judg- 
ment shall be given them, and they shall be priests of Grod, 
even of Christ, and shall reign with him the thousand years. 
They are to wear crowns of righteousness, which God the 
righteous Judge will give unto them at that day. Having 






THE EXALTATION OF THE SAINTS. 219 

exercised meekness, they shall inherit the earth ; and, by the 
righteousness of faith made " heirs of the world/' they shall 
enter upon their inheritance. Jesus is the heir of all things, 
and the saints are joint-heirs with him. Having suffered with 
him, they shall be glorified with him. They shall have a city 
of habitation becoming their high nature, — " a firmly-founded 
city, whose builder and maker is God." They are to eat and 
drink with Christ, at his table, in his kingdom. " They shall 
see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads, and 
they shall reign forever and ever." They shall neither marry, 
nor be given in marriage, but shall be as the angels of God. 
" Oh, what untried forms of happy being, what cycles of revolv- 
ing bliss, await the just ! Conception cannot reach it, nor 
experience present materials for the picture of its similitude ; 
and though thus figured out with the choicest emblems, they 
do no more represent it, than the name of Shepherd describes 
the watchful guardianship of Christ, or the name of Father 
the unspeakable love of God." " It doth not yet appear what 
we shall be." What shall be the precise nature of the 
authority, priesthood, heirship and glory of the saints, can- 
not now be told. But this "we know, that when he (the 
Savior) shall appear, we shall be like him, and shall see him 
as he is." A world of wonders is in every word of this pro- 
mise. But how great shall be the believer's happiness, what 
his peculiar circumstances, how large his possessions, and 
what the exact nature and dignity of his employments, tongue 
cannot tell, nor heart conceive. We cannot understand the 
soul's faculties now} and they shall be greater hereafter. 
Sublime are the Christian's relations now; and they shall be 
sublimer then. Wonderful are the offices and mission of good 
men now; and they shall be a thousand times more wonderful 
then. A thoroughly-converted and enlightened man, even 
whilst in the corrupt flesh, is a noble object to behold. Even 
the angels are not ashamed to become ministering spirits to 



220 THE LAST TIMES. 

him. What then shall be his glory when he shall come to 
occupy his throne with the adorable Jesus in the dignity of 
eternal empire ! 

That the glorified saints will, to some extent, mingle with 
those who live in the body, and at times unveil their radiance 
to them, I think there is reason to believe. Their offices 
would seem to imply it. If they are to govern, direct and 
minister to those in the flesh, it is natural to suppose that they 
will also be visible, at least occasionally. Angels, in the per- 
formance of similar ofiices, have often been manifested to 
living men ; and why should it not be so with Christ's ser- 
vants, in the wonderful administrations of his glorious king- 
dom ? The earth will then be much nearer to heaven than 
ever it was before, and the intercourse between them will 
doubtless be much more free and intimate. Glorified or spi- 
ritual bodies are, perhaps, in their nature, invisible to our 
earthly senses. Christ, after his resurrection, was not visible 
except at certain times when he manifested himself. The 
angels are invisible, and yet we have many instances in which 
they were revealed to the view of mortals. And in that new 
world in which the glorified saints are to be enthroned, and 
commissioned, as the ministers of Christ the great King, to 
execute his orders and administer his government over the 
nations, we may reasonably expect that they will often appear, 
and converse with those who live in the flesh ; and that inter- 
course between them and those in the body will be as real, 
familiar and blessed as that which Adam enjoyed with hea- 
venly beings in Paradise. 

But whatever may be the specific nature of the kinghood 
and priesthood of the glorified saints, or in whatever way they 
may discharge their sublime ministrations, we may rest assured 
that their relation to the world will be for good and blessing. 
Christ will thus associate them with him in his kingdom only 
the more gloriously to fulfill his grand designs of love and 



OFFICE OF THE CHURCH. 221 

mercy. He came into this world to seek and to save that 
which was lost. He came to reveal God to man, and to lift 
up man into harmony with God. He came amidst the grovel- 
ing, the selfish and the earthly, to tell a tale of disinterested 
love at which selfishness might hang its head. He came 
amidst the guilty, the wretched and the lost, to reveal a de- 
sign of mercy at which angels rejoice with exceeding joy, and 
before which the aching and the burdened heart may throw 
off the load under which it labors. He suffered, died, rose 
again, now lives in heaven, and will soon return to earth, all 
to cast out the evil which has come upon man, and to bring 
this world back to the Paradise it once was. And this espous- 
ing to himself of an elecfc, ransomed and glorified church can 
be for no other purpose than that which he has already mani- 
fested in his wonderful doings hitherto. Much of the great 
plan of redemption yet remains unfulfilled ; and this church 
of the first-born is exalted to its high place, not only for its 
own glory and the Savior's praise, but as another great link in 
the chain of agencies and administrations by which the entire 
world is to be yet restored to the high sphere for which it 
was destined. These children of the resurrection are to con- 
stitute an elect and immortal college, connected with the 
Savior's own glorified humanity, that he may thus consum- 
mate his wonderful designs in the ultimat^ and entire repeal 
of the curse under which the earth groans, and the recovery 
forever of the lost heritage of man. Why does he call and 
constitute the church as we now have it ? Certainly not only 
that those who enter it may be justified and accepted. There 
is another object. It is that he may work in and through the 
church, and carry light, civilization, truth and hope to the 
children of men. And Christians are not done with this 
world when they die. When this elect church shall have 
been completed, and its members come to be priests and kings 

with Christ in the glorious Messianic kingdom, the same 

19* 



222 THE LAST TIMES. 

general calling which they now fill will continue. These 
sublime princedoms of the eternal empire are a part of God's 
great plan to let forth his love, wisdom and blessing upon 
earth's future generations. Blessed, blessed, shall it then be 
for the world, when once the saints shall be installed with 
their promised dominion, and sit with Christ upon his throne ! 
Another characteristic of the millennial world will be the 
entire absence of all the confederations and powers of wicked- 
ness. W*ym the Savior comes, Antichrist, in all its shapes, will 
be destroyed. The wild beast and the false prophet, and all 
their supporters and adherents, are to be taken and cast into 
the bottomless abyss. The last renovating fires which are to 
be kindled in the day of the Lord shall carry all the con- 
federates in usurpation and wrong to their merited perdition. 
The dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, even Satan, 
shall then be seized, and bound, and confined in the pit, to 
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years be fulfilled, 
and after a brief release consigned to eternal death. In- 
stead of despotism and tyranny shall be justice and charity. 
Those that now corrupt and destroy the earth will then have 
been destroyed. The filthy dreamers, who despise government 
and speak evil of dignities, will then have passed away. The 
raging waves of popular revolution, foaming out their own 
shame, shall have been stilled, to rise no more. Those wan- 
dering stars in church and state, by whom so much disturbance 
is now experienced, will then have gone to the blackness of 
darkness appointed for them. Might shall not then trample 
any more upon right. The course of nature, now set on fire 
of hell, shall then be made to flow in all the smoothness and 
tranquility of heaven. "The Son of man shall send forth his 
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them 
into a furnace of fire." False prophets and false teachers, 
with all their "damnable heresies," shall then have gone to 






OF THE HEBREW NATION. 223 

their destruction. Nations shall cease their fierce works of 
war, and armies no more butcher each other upon the bloody 
field of battle. Violence will no more be heard in the land, 
nor wasting and destruction within its borders. Satan will be 
deprived of his power to stir up rankling passion, and the 
sway of oppression and iniquity will be ended. The greatest 
of the world's burdens will thus be lifted off, and the mill-stone 
that has weighed it down so long will be loosed from its neck 
forever. 

A fourth feature of the millennium, or new earth, will be 
the great exaltation, piety and glory of the Hebrew nation, 
and of the world through them. I have shown that this 
people is to be restored to Palestine; that Jerusalem is to be 
rebuilt in more than its former glory; that the throne of David 
is to be re-established; and that the Prince Messiah is to be 
their King. " For lo ! the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, 
and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their 
fathers, and they shall possess it. And they shall serve the 
Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise 
up unto them:" (Jer. xxx. 3-9.) "They shall all of them 
be righteous, and shall inherit the land forever." Their land 
that was desolate shall become like Eden, and even its desert 
like the garden of Jehovah. " In that day shall the branch 
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the 
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped 
of Israel. And he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth 
in Jerusalem, shall be called holy." G-od says of the house 
of Jacob, "The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all 
kings thy glory. Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand 
of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 
Ye that make mention of the Lord, give him no rest till he 
make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Say to the daughter 
of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. And they shall call 



224 THE LAST TIMES. 

them. The holy people, TJie redeemed of tht Lord." " Re- 
joice ye witli Jerusalem j and be glad wita her; for thus saith 
the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and 
the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." " At that 
time they shall call Jerusalem the throne OF the Lord ; 
and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name 
of the Lord, to Jerusalem." "I the Lord will be their 
God, and my servant David a prince among them. And I 
will make them and the places round about my hill a bless- 
ing. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown. Thus 
shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and 
that they, even the house of Israel, are my people." "I will 
be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast 
forth his roots ; his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall 
be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon." "And many 
nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; 
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
paths ; for the law shall go forth of Zion, tmd the word of the 
Lord from Jerusalem." Jesus himself shall descend among 
them, and be their King. He shall fight for them in the day 
of battle, and slay all their enemies. For "God shall give 
unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign 
over the house of Jacob forever," and " before his ancients 
gloriously." 

These are glowing promises. Well may they cause the 
Jew to be hopeful amid all his long-continued spoliations, and 
to sing still, " If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand 
forget her cunning! If I do not remember thee, let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth !" And when these 
glad predictions shall be fulfilled, all the nations shall share in 
the sublime exaltations of God's ancient people and their 
glorious King. Then all the nations of the earth shall be 
blessed in Abraham's seed. " Israel shall blossom and bud. 



SCRIPTURE PROMISES. 225 

and fill the face of the earth with fruit." "The remnant of 
Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the 
Lord, and as showers upon the grass." "They shall be called 
the priests of the Lord; and men shall call them the ministers 
of our God." When Zion, the city of the Lord, shall arise 
and shine, the Gentiles shall come to its light, and kings to the 
brightness of its rising. When the New Jerusalem appears, 
" the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light 
of it." In that day, Israel's King, even "the Lord, shall be 
King over all the earth." "All people, nations and lan- 
guages shall serve and obey him." "The heathen shall be 
given to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for his possession." " Kings shall fall down before 
him, and all nations shall serve him." "He shall reign and 
prosper, and his rest shall be glorious." "The world to come, 
whereof we speak," has been put into subjection unto him. 
The kingdoms of this world are to be his kingdoms. Every 
knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. He 
must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
Morally, spiritually and politically, all people must be event- 
ually subjugated unto him. "For the earth shall be filled 
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." 

All these are God's own revelations. They are full of mys- 
tery, but full of hope. How they are to be fulfilled may be a 
subject of wonder; but that they will be fulfilled is as certain 
as the existence of God. It may not all be done at once. It 
will be an achievement of moral force, and not of mere arbi- 
trary coercion. It may require years upon years to accomplish 
all ; but He who has promised knows how to perform what he 
has uttered. The new, august and momentous personal mani- 
festations of Christ for which we are taught to look, the en- 
larged gifts of the Holy Ghost which are yet' to be bestowed, 
the appointment of other, better equipped and more efficient 
p 



~ ! > THE LAST TIMES. 

ministerial agencies, the probable revival of miracles, the 
shaking of the nations with the terrors of coming judgments, 
the increased power of the Bible derived from the fulfillment 
of its prophecies, and the removal of Satan ana all his treacher- 
ous opposition, certainly will leave it no difficult task to make 
a speedy conquest of all the great nations to the glorious 
dominion of the Son of David, come down from heaven to be 
their King and Lord forever. At all events, — 

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run; 
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 

But the new earth has yet another blessed characteristic. 
It is to present the glorious spectacle of the entire repeal of 
the curse of sin. It is true that the complete and entire 
repeal of the curse will not be consummated until the end of 
the thousand years, when all wickedness and the wicked shall 
finally be cast out from the earth forever. But, from the time 
Christ comes and takes dominion of the world with his glori- 
fied saints, every thing will advance closer and closer until it 
reaches this final and transcendent consummation. His com- 
ing is styled "the regeneration," — "the day of the restitution 
of all thiugs," — the time when God shall "make all things 
new," — "the manifestation of the sons of God," for which the 
creation groans and waits, — the day of redemption, when " the 
creature itself shall be delivered from the boudage of cor- 
ruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
Christ is the Redeemer and Lord of the whole creation, as 
well as of the human soul. When God made man, he said to 
him, "Have dominion over the fish of tjie sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
aud over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." 
This dominion Adam lost. The rebellion of the soul against 
God brought with it the rebellion of the flesh against the 



SCRIPTURE PROMISES. 227 

spirit, and of nature against the entire man. Discords, anti- 
pathies and a thousand evils ensued. Christ is the second 
Adam, and by subverting the empire of Satan he regains the 
dominion which Adam lost, and carries his redemption as far 
as the consequences of the fall have reached. Otherwise, the 
entire breach is not healed, and salvation is imperfect. The 
whole earth under the Messiah must then ultimately become 
all that it was under Adam, and what it always would have 
been if Adam had never sinned. The curse that was put 
upon the ground for Adam's sin, filling it with thorns and 
thistles, infusing sweat and pain into all our participations of 
its products, must be taken off. The evils and confusion 
which sin has brought into the world must be driven out. 
And this is exactly what is promised under the reign of Christ 
and his saints. "The Spirit shall be poured from on high, 
and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be 
counted a forest. And the work of righteousness shall be 
peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance 
forever." "The mountains and the hills shall break forth 
into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their 
hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and 
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it 
shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that 
shall not be cut off." "Then the eyes of the blind shall be 
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then 
shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the 
dumb sing; in the wilderness shall waters break out, and 
streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become 
a watered place, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the 
habitation of dragons there shall be grass, with reeds and 
rushes." "And the inhabitants shall not say y I am siclc." 
There shall be no more thence any dying in infancy, or of 
men who have not filled out their days. " They shall build 
houses and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards and 



228 THE LAST TIMES. 

eat the fruit of them. They shall not labor in vain, nor 
bring forth for trouble. The wolf and the lamb shall feed 
together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox : and dust 
shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy 
in all my holy mountain:" (Isa. lxv. 17-25.) " The waters 
of the Dead Sea shall be healed." Trees shall grow which 
shall " yield their fruit monthly, and the leaves thereof shall 
be for the healing of the nations." "They shall not hunger 
nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them." " And 

THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE." "And God shall wipe 

away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no 
more death." "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death." He may linger through a brief and feeble existence 
in some of the outskirts of the millennial world; but he must 
be entirely destroyed. "Then shall be brought to pass the 
saying that is written, Death is. swallowed up of victory ;" 
and earth's redeemed and undying generations shall take up 
the song, "0 death! where is thy sting? grave! where is 
thy victory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ !' 

Such, then, is the glorious consummation to which the 
works of Providence and grace are tending. Such is the 
finishing of the mystery which God hath spoken by the mouth 
of all his holy prophets. This battle-field of hell and heaven 
shall rise up out of all its desolations. The bliss of Paradise 
shall yet dwell in its valleys and the glory of God shine on 
all its hills. Though a lazar-house for so many ages, it shall 
be the home of righteousness and peace and a temple of 
blessing and glory, whose vaulted dome shall echo forever 
with redemption's songs. Things may look unpromising 
now; but everywhere heaven is pouring into it. Tyranny, 
war, distress and wickedness may seem to be triumphant; but 
their end is near, and the Desire of nations approaches. 
Satan and his emissaries may struggle in their desperation ; 



MILLENNIAL GLORY. 229 

but they shall not be able to keep the world from the resur- 
rection to which it is moving. The sore travail of the Savior's 
soul shall jet be seen in an everlasting equation between it and 
heaven. Jesus himself shall set up his throne in it and 
brighten it with the glories of his ineffable personal presence. 
The holy ministries of the children of the resurrection shall 
cover it with a mantle of peace and light. Satan and all his 
works shall be rooted out of it forever. All its long-erring 
nations shall be reclaimed, and all its discordant elements 
recovered to harmony and rest. Over all this place of graves 
the flowers of immortality shall bloom. Instead of the coffin 
shall be Elijah's chariot, and in place of the death-struggle 
shall be Enoch's rapture. And from all God's great universe 
shall break forth the song of joy and praise over a world that 
was lost but is found ; over this blasted earth made new again 
and glorious forever. 

Region of life and light ! 

Land of the good whose sweaty toils are o'er ! 

Nor frost nor heat may Might 

Thy vernal beauty, fertile shore, 

Yielding thy blessed fruits for evermore ! 

» 
There, without crook or sling, 

Walks the Good Shepherd. Blossoms white and red 
Round his meek temples cling; 
And, to sweet pastures led, 
His own loved flock beneath his eye are fed. 

He guides, and near him they 

Follow delighted ; for he makes them go 

Where dwells eternal May, 

And heavenly roses blow, 

Deathless, and gathered but again to grow. 

He leads them to the height 

Named of the infinite and long-sought Good, 

And fountains of delight ; 

And where his feet have stood 

Springs up, along the way, their tender food. 



380 THE LAST TIMES.- 

From lips divine flow forth 

Immortal harmonies, of power to still 

All passions horn of earth, 

And draw the ardent will 

Its destiny of goodness to fulfill. 

Might but a little part, 

A wandering breath, of that high melody, 

Descend into my heart, 

And change it, till it be 

Transformed and swallowed up, Christ, in thee ! 



"YET A LITTLE WHILE." 

Beyond tbe smiling and the weeping 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the waking and the sleeping, 
Beyond the sowing and the reaping, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, Rest, and Home! 

Sweet hope ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the blooming and the fading 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the shining and the shading, 
Beyond the hoping and the dreading, 
I shall be soon. 
Love, Rest, and Home ! 

Sweet hope ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

Beyond the parting and the meeting 

I shall be soon ; 

Beyond the farewell and the greeting, 

Beyond this pulse's fever-beating, 

I shall be soon. 

Love, Rest, and Home ! 

Sweet hope ! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

H. BONAB. 






TEKTH DISCOURSE. 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH — SUMMARY OF OUR DOCTRINE — 

CERINTHUS THE ANABAPTISTS MILLER IMPROPRIETY OF CLASSING! 

US WITH THESE PARTIES TRUE CHURCH TESTIMONY BARNABAS — 

CLEMENT PAPIAS JUSTIN MARTYR IRENJSUS TERTULLIAN 

CYPRIAN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AS TO THE FAITH OF THE EARLY 

CHURCH HOW MILLENARIAN DOCTRINE WAS SUPPRESSED ORIGEN'S 

SYSTEM REVIVAL OF THE PRIMITIVE FAITH LUTHER MELANCTHON 

— THE FRUITS OF OUR BELIEF — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE EARLY 
AND PRESENT CHURCH. 



Deut. xxxii. 7 : Remember the days of old, consider 1 the years of 
many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy 
elders, and they will tell thee. 

The past is one of our best teachers. History is one of 
the storehouses of wisdom. "Not to know what transpired 
before we were born/' says a classic author, "is to remain 
children." 

In matters of religious faith it is particularly important to 
recur to the testimony of those who lived before us. Novelty 
is sometimes the best proof of heresy. That cannot be 
Christianity which cannot stand the test of history. Antiquity 
alone is no evidence of orthodoxy. A creed may be old and 
yet be false; but it cannot be new and yet be true. The 
Christian religion is a written tradition, just as complete at its 
first delivery as it is now. All the advances of science, 
though they may have assisted in preparing men the better to 
appreciate it, have not added ta it a single jot. In some 

2S1 



232 THE LAST TIMES. 

things the children may be accounted the fathers, and the 
fathers the children; but even in those instances "the child 
is father of the man." We cannot be independent of what 
has gone before us. In every thing wisdom bids us " remem- 
ber the days of old." Yea, "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye 
in the ways and see, and ash for the old paths, where is the 
good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your 
souls." 

I propose, therefore, to make some inquiry into the testi- 
mony of Christians of former ages respecting the doctrines 
which I have been putting forth in these discourses. If the 
church in its first and purest periods held them as the teach- 
ings of the Scriptures, that fact must go very far to confirm 
them as the truth of God. The saying of Tertullian, that 
" whatever is first is true; whatever is later is adulterate," 
may not always hold good. Neither are . we to rest our 
faith upon the mere opinions of men, whether ancient or 
modern. "The Bible, the Bible alone, is the 'religion of 
Protestants;" and upon the Bible do I rest for the truth 
of what I have been teaching.* But it is not very likely 
that the most enlightened Christians who were the pupils 
and hearers of the inspired apostles and their immediate 
successors were mistaken as to what are the hopes which 
Christianity presents. If it can be satisfactorily shown 
that they believed and taught the Scriptures as I have 
been interpreting them, it will be hard for a reasonable 
man to conclude that I am wrong. Whilst, then, we take 
the Scriptures as our only and infallible standard, and accord 
to every man the right to examine and decide for himself 
as God shall judge him, the light of antiquity cannot be 
discarded as useless. It is one of our helps to a right 
understanding of God's revelation, which we are not safe 
in despising. And though we are not to receive the 
testimony of anybody where that testimony conflicts with 

* See pp. 365-380. 



SUMMARY OF DOCTRINE. 233 

the Bible, we will do well to " remember tbe days of old/' 
and to "consider the years of many generations." The 
fathers had some advantages which we have not. Let us 
then avail ourselves of these advantages in our search for 
truth. Let us ask them, and they will show us, and inquire 
of the elders, and they will tell us. 

The principal points which I have thus far presented, as 
my apprehension of God's revealments concerning " the last 
times," are as follows : — 

1. That Christ Jesus, our adorable Redeemer, is to return to 
this world in great power and glory, as really and as literally 
as he ascended up from it. 

2. That this second advent of the Messiah will occur before 
the general conversion of the world, while the Man of sin 
still continues his abominations, while the earth is yet full 
of tyranny, war, infidelity and blasphemy, and consequently 
before what is called the millennium. 

3. That this coming of the Lord Jesus will not be to 
depopulate and annihilate the earth, but to judge, subdue, 
renew and bless it. 

4. That in the period of this coming he will raise the holy 
from among the dead, transform the living that are waiting 
for him, judge them according to their works, receive them 
up to himself in the clouds, and establish them in a glorious 
heavenly kingdom. 

5. That Christ will then also break down and destroy all 
present systems of government in church and state, burn up 
the great centres and powers of wickedness and usurpation, 
shake the whole earth with terrific visitations for its sins, and 
subdue it to his own personal and eternal rule. 

6. That during these great and destructive commotions, 
the Jewish race shall be marvelously restored to the land of 
their fathers, brought to embrace Jesus as their Messiah and 
King, delivered from their enemies, placed at the head of 

20* 



234 THE LAST TIMES. 

nations, and made the agents of unspeakable blessings to the 
world. 

7. That Christ will then re-establish the throne of his 
father David, exalt it in heavenly glory, make Mount Zion 
the seat of his divine empire, and, with the glorified saints 
associated with him in his dominion, reign over the house of 
Jacob and over the world in a visible, sublime and heavenly 
Christocracy for the period of "the thousand years." 

8. That during this millennial reign in which mankind 
are brought under a new dispensation, Satan is to be bound 
and the world enjoy its long-expected Sabbatic rest. 

9. That at the end of this millennial Sabbath the last 
rebellion shall be quashed, the wicked dead, who shall all 
continue in Hades until that time, shall be raised and judged, 
and Satan, Death, Hades, and all antagonisms to good, 
delivered over to eternal destruction. And — 

10. That, under these wonderful administrations, the earth 
is to be entirely recovered from the effects of the fall, the 
excellence of God's righteous providence vindicated, the whole 
curse repealed, death swallowed up, and all the inhabitants of 
the world thenceforward forever restored to more than the full 
happiness, purity and glory which Adam forfeited in Eden. 

Such is my learning of the Scriptures, and such is my 
solemn belief upon these momentous themes. Some may be 
disposed to brand it as the old heresy of Cerinthus ; some 
may classify it with the doctrines of the seditious Anabaptists 
of Luther's day; and not a few may stigmatize it as " Miller- 
ism. " But, call it what you please, with my present light 
it is my faith ; and I propose to show you that such was the 
faith of the universal orthodox church in the purest periods 
of its history. But, lest it should be derided with names 
which it does not deserve, let me make an observation or two 
with regard to the parties just named. 

Cerinthus was the contemporary of the Apostle John. It 



THE ANABAPTISTS. 235 

is a question now, among learned men, whather he ever did 
teach the carnal notions which are ascribed to him. It is 
recorded of him, however, that he " falsely pretended to won- 
derful things, as if they had been shown him by angels, assert- 
ing that after the resurrection there would be an earthly 
kingdom of Christ, and that the flesh, (or man again united 
with flesh,) again inhabiting Jerusalem, would be subject to 
desires and pleasures;" that, " being an enemy of the divine 
Scriptures, he said there would be a space of a thousand 
years for celebrating nuptial festivals;" that "he taught that 
Christ would have an earthly kingdom, and, as he was a 
voluptuary and altogether sensual, he conjectured that it 
would consist in those things that he craved in the gratifica- 
tion of appetite and lust." If these things are true, which 
is very questionable, it has been well for Christians that they 
never permitted themselves to be carried away with such gross 
and plainly unscriptural carnalities. The kingdom of heaven 
is not meat and drink, marrying or giving in marriage. The 
children of the resurrection are never to return to this fleshly 
and sensual life, but are to have spiritual bodies, and inhabit 
a city " not made with hands," and be kings and priests unto 
God, blessed and holy forever.* 

The Anabaptists were a fanatical and seditious people, with 
whom no sound Christian can sympathize. Mosheim says, 
" They gave themselves out for the messengers of heaven, to 
lay the foundations of a new government, and to destroy and 
overturn all temporal rule and authority, — all human and 
political institutions. Having turned all things into confusion 
and uproar in ve city of Miinster by this seditious declara- 
tion, they began to erect a new republic conformable to their 
absurd and chimerical notions of religion, and committed the 
administration of it to John Bockholt, a tailor by profession !" 
Milner says, " They taught the people to despise their lawful 
rulers, and the salutary regulations by. which all communities 

* Foe Note E, page 335. 



236 THE LAST TIMES. 

exist. Everywhere it was the cry of these enthusiastic vision- 
aries, No tribute ; all things in common ; no tithes ; no magis- 
trates ; the baptism of infants is an invention of the devil I" 
From such delusion, fanaticism and blasphemy may the Lord 
ever preserve us ! And yet with such people we are often 
classed when we undertake to declare the real gospel doctrine 
of Christ's coming and kingdom. 

The late Mr. Miller, of whom we heard so much a few years 
ago, was doubtless a simple-minded, honest and pious man. 
But he was comparatively illiterate, imaginative and enthu- 
siastic. He did not fully grasp the sweep, order, consistency 
and grandeur of (rod's purposes as they are presented in the 
Scriptures. He believed that this world was to be burned up 
and depopulated of all its present orders of inhabitants. He 
taught that none were to exist on the earth after Christ's 
coming but the church of the first-born in their glorified state, 
who should return to a physical form of life. He also held 
that the Gog and Magog rebellion at the end of the Millen- 
nium refers to the resurrected wicked. He had no consistent 
views of Christ's reign over the nations, and denied probation 
after Christ's coming. He was carried away, too, with certain 
calculations of prophetic dates, upon which he relied too con- 
fidently. He was disappointed in some of the leading par- 
ticulars upon which he gained his notoriety. But neither 
prophecy nor the students of prophecy are responsible for his 
mistakes. And to make all deductions from prophecy bear 
the odium and ridicule excited by the vagaries of uninformed 
and credulous men, is neither sensible, pious, nor respectful to 
the word of God. We have nothing to do vuth the crudities 
and wild imaginings of a sensual Cerinthus, the fanatical Ana 
baptist, or the injudicious Father Miller. Our business is 
with what God has written for our learning and with the 
interpretations of those who were the least likely to be mis- 
taken in regard to the leading features of God's revelations. 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE CHURCH-BARNABAS. 237 

Let us, then, proceed with our task, and endeavor to ascer- 
tain the views and teachings of the early Christians with re- 
gard to the doctrines of these discourses. What expectations 
were formed of the Messiah at his first coming, and how 
Christ and his apostles proceeded respecting those expecta- 
tions, I have already set forth. In other words, I have given 
you the inspired Scriptures for every thing that I have thus 
far said. This alone is, or ought to be, sufficient. But as 
there is disagreement as to the manner in which those pas- 
sages are to be understood, I will give you the proof that the 
best Christian authority is in favor of the interpretations 
which I have maintained. 

The first witness I produce is Barnabas, a Levite of the 
country of Cyprus, and one of those who sold their possessions 
and laid the money at the apostles' feet. Luke says that 
"he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost." He was 
the companion and fellow-preacher with the Apostle Paul. 
He has left an epistle which learned men think was written 
before the Epistle of Jude or the writings of John. Some 
have considered it apocryphal ; but Vossius, Dupuis, Cave, 
Mill, Clarke, Whiston, Wake, and others not incompetent to 
judge in the case, esteem it the genuine production of Barna- 
bas the Levite, so honorably mentioned in the Scriptures. 
At all events, it belongs to early Christian antiquity, and is a 
competent witness as to what were the views then entertained. 

In the thirteenth chapter of this epistle we find it written : — 
" God made in six days the works of his hands, and he finished 
them the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day and 
sanctified it. Consider, my children, what that signifies : he 
finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this : that 
in six thousand years the Lord will bring all things to an end. 
For with him one day is a thousand years, as himself testi- 
Jieth. Therefore, children, in six days — that is, in six thou- 
sand years — shall all things be accomplished. And what i» 



238 THE LAST TIMES. 

that lie saith, And lie rested the seventh day ? He meaneth 
this : that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of 
the wicked one, and judge the ungodly, and shall change the 
sun, moon and stars, THEN he shall gloriously rest in thai 
seventh day. . . . Behold, he will then truly sanctify it with 
blessed rest, when we (having received the righteous 
PROMISE, when iniquity shall be no more, ALL THINGS BEING 
renewed by the lord) shall be able to sanctify it, being 
ourselves first made holy." 

In these words it is plainly taught : — 

1. That Christ is to come again personally to our world at 
the end of the six thousand years. 

2. That the wicked one and his domination will remain in 
existence until Christ comes. 

3. That the seventh thousand years of the world is to be 
a millennium of holy rest, in which the saints are to inherit 
their promises and iniquity be done away; and — 

4. That this millennium of glory is to be introduced by the 
personal coming of the Messiah to abolish the empire of the 
wicked one, judge the ungodly, change the present constitu- 
tion of things and renew the world. 

Such, then, is the testimony of one, said to have been the 
companion and fellow of the Apostle Paul. 

A second witness is Clement, whom Paul mentions among 
his " fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life." 
In such high repute were his writings held, that they are 
found included in one of the oldest collections of New Testa- 
ment writings as a part of the sacred canon. He does not 
refer to our subject as directly as Barnabas; but there can be 
no doubt of his having entertained the same views. Dr. 
Hamilton of Strathblane, in a work against the students of 
prophecy, puts him down as evidently a millennarian ; that 
is, one who believes in the personal reign of Christ with his 
saints on earth. He connected " the great and glorious 



PAPIAS AND JUSTIN MARTYR. 239 

promises" made to the people of G-od with the promise that 
" the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." 
He taught that "we shall come to judgment in the flesh, and 
so also in the flesh receive the reward." He also identified 
the coming of the kingdom of God with " the day of God's 
appearing ," and exhorted his readers hourly to expect, wait 
and pray for it, that they might " enter into his kingdom and 
receive the promises." And if there is any weight to be 
attached to his apprehensions of divine truth, it goes decidedly 
in favor of our doctrines. 

The next witness is Papias, the disciple of the Apostle 
John and a companion of -Polycarp. Eusebius speaks unfa- 
vorably of his judgment in one place; but elsewhere pro- 
nounces him " eloquent and learned in the Scriptures." He 
himself says that he had most assiduously collected all that 
could be gathered of the teachings and sayings of Christ and 
the apostles. He certainly had every opportunity of knowing 
the truth. And he has recorded it as his belief, and as con- 
tained in what he had collected from the fountains of Chris- 
tian doctrine, that " there will be a certain millennium after 
the resurrection or the dead, when Christ will reign 
BODILY (personally^ upon this very earth." 

We come now to Justin the martyr, who was born ten 
years before the death of the Apostle John. Mosheim calls 
him " a man of eminent piety and learning, who, from a pagan 
philosopher, became a Christian martyr." In his Dialogue 
with Trypho, he says, "I, and as many as are orthodox 
Christians, do acknowledge that there shall be a resurrection 
of the body, and, a residence of a thousand years in Jerusalem 
rebuilt, adorned and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah 
and others do unanimously attest. . . . Moreover, a certain man 
among us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, 
in a revelation made to him, did prophesy that the faithful 
believers in Christ shall live a thousand years in the New 



240 THE LAST TIMES. 

Jerusalem, and after that shall he the general resurrection 
and judgment." Not only does Justin here declare himself 
a believer in our doctrines, but, as Semisch (in Herzog's 
Cyclopedia) says, he "distinguishes that belief as the key- 
stone of orthodoxy." 

The testimony of the distinguished Irenaeus is also of par- 
ticular value. He was the disciple of Polycarp, the pupil of 
the Apostle John. It has justly been said that, " for learning, 
steadfastness and zeal, he was among the most renowned of 
the early fathers." Mosheim says that his writings are " the 
most precious monuments of ancient erudition." His tutor, 
Polycarp, was one of those " angels" to whom the Savior ad- 
dressed one of the seven epistles recorded in John's revela- 
tion. He was a most diligent collector of all that was to be 
known of what Christ and his apostles taught. Irenaeus 
regarded him with peculiar veneration, and says of his 
teachings, " I remember his discourses concerning the conver- 
sations he had with John the apostle and others who had seen 
the Lord ; how he rehearsed their discourses, and what he 
heard them say of our Lord and of his miracles and doc- 
trine." Irenaeus, therefore, had good means of knowing 
what ideas the sacred writers attached to their own writings, 
and what ideas and hopes the Spirit through them inculcated 
respecting God's great purposes. Hear, then, what this 
learned and devout man has said concerning our doctrine : — 

" In whatever number of days the world was created, in the 
same number of thousands of years it will come to its consum- 
mation. God, on the sixth day, finished the works which he 
made ; and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. 
This is a history of the past and a prophecy of the future ; for 
1 the day of the Lord is as a thousand years.' " Here is a 
distinct announcement of the millennial Sabbath. As to 
where it is to be celebrated, he is equally clear. "It is 
fitting," says he, "that the just, rising ag%in at the appear- 



IREN^EUS AND TERTULLIAN. 241 

anct of God, should, in the renewed state, receive the promise 
of inheritance which God covenanted to the fathers, and 
should reign in it; and that then should follow the final 
judgment. For, in the same condition in which they have 
labored and been afflicted, and been tried by sufferings in all 
sorts of ways, it is but just that in it .they should receive the 
fruits of their sufferings, so that where, for the love of God 
they suffered death, there they should be brought to life again; 
and where they endured bondage, there also they should reign. 
.... I say it is becoming that the creation, being restored 
to its original beauty, should, without any impediment or 
drawback, be subject to the righteous. This the apostle makes 
manifest in the Epistle to the Romans Thus, there- 
fore, as God promised to Abraham the inheritance of the earth, 
and he received it not during the whole time he lived, it is 
necessary that he should receive it, together with his seed, that 
is, with such of them as fear God, and believe in him, IN 
the resurrection OF the just They will un- 
doubtedly receive it at the resurrection of the just : for true 
and unchangeable is God; wherefore he also said, Blessed are 
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." 

Four things are here asserted -: first, that Christ will really 
appear at the end of the six thousand years ; second, that the 
millennium comes after the Savior's advent; third, that there 
is to be a resurrection of the just at the beginning of the mil- 
lennium ; and, fourth, that Christ is to reign with his saints 
in this world. Such is the testimony of Irenseus, the pupil 
of Polycarp and Papias, the disciples of the Apostle John. 

We come now to Tertullian, the eminent contemporary of 
Iienaeus, a man of eloquence and learning, who, with all his 
faults, had many excellencies. His testimony is equally con- 
spicuous and positive. " We also confess/' says he, " that a 
kingdom is promised us on earth, AFTER THE RESURRECTION; 
for it will be for a thousand years in a city of divine work- 
Q 21 



242 THE LAST TIMES. 

manship, viz. : Jerusalem brought down from heaven, which 
city Ezekiel knew, and the Apostle John saw. This is the 
city provided of God to receive the saihts in the resurrection, 
wherein to refresh themselves with all spiritual good things t 
in recompense of those which in the world we have despised 
and lost." He also testifies that it was the custom of his 
times for Christians to pray that they might have part in the 
first resurrection j thus showing that this was the general and 
firm belief of his time. 

Clement of Alexandria, the contemporary of Tertullian, 
whom Eusebius designates as an " incomparable master of the 
Christian philosophy," also refers to the mystic sanctity of the 
seventh day, as pointing in the estimation of both Hebrews 
and Greeks to the final revolution of the world and the reno- 
vation of all things. 

Cyprian, the great bishop of Carthage, who sealed his faith 
with his blood, also alludes to the subject in a way leaving no 
doubt that he apprehended the Scriptures in the same man- 
ner. " In the divine arrangement of the world," says he, 
" seven days were at first employed, and in them seven thou- 
sand years were included." This implies the doctrine of the 
millennial Sabbath ; and, taking it in connection with his ex- 
pectation of the future honors of the martyrs, and his decla- 
ration that in this world " things evil and adverse shall in- 
crease until the end come as foretold," we cannot suppose that 
he differed on this subject from the distinguished teachers 
who went before him and whose disciple he claimed to be. 

We have now brought down our list of testimonies to the 
end of the second century after Christ. I have given you the 
language of the most pious and distinguished Christian teach- 
ers who lived during that time. And without one dissenting 
voice among /hem, we here have, as their unanimous appre- 
hension of the Scriptures and of what Christ and his apostles 
taught, — 



THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS MILLENARIANS. 243 

1. That there is to be a millennial Sabbath at the end of 
six thousand 3 ears from the creation of Adam, in which the 
world shall joyfully rest from its long week of turmoil and 
disorder. 

2. That the personal and final advent of Christ, and the 
resurrection of the holy dead, shall occur at the commence- 
ment of the millennium. 

3. That Christ is to reign with his saints in glorious empire 
upon this earth. And, — 

4. That all sublunary things, embracing the entire lower 
creation, are to undergo a universal renovation, and be restored 
to their original excellence and glory. 

Nor was there any acknowledged Christian, until The time 
of Origen, in the middle of the third century, that ever 
recorded any other faith upon this subject. We may safely 
challenge all the research of the world to produce one single 
orthodox opposing testimony prior to the days of Origen, than 
whom, Milner says, " no man not altogether unsound and hy- 
pocritical ever more injured the church of Christ." Indeed, 
the evidence that these views were a vital and prominent part 
of the faith of Christians for the first ages is so clear and 
conspicuous that I do not know that any scholar has ever ven- 
tured to contradict the fact. Let me submit to you some 
statements of learned men upon the subject. 

The well-known infidel historian, Edward Gibbon, has this 
statement : — " The ancient and popular doctrine of the mil- 
lennium was intimately connected with the second coming of 
Christ. As the works of the creation had been finished in 
six days, their duration in their present state, according to a 
tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed 
to six thousand years. By the same analogy it was inferred 
that this long period of labor and contention would be sue 
eeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; and that 
Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect 



244 THE LAST TIMES. 

who liad escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, 
would reign upon earth The assurance <jf such a mil- 
lennium was carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers 
from Justin Martyr and Irenseus, who conversed with the 
immediate disciples of the apostles, down to Lactantius, who 
was preceptor to the son of Constantine It appears to 

HAVE BEEN THE REIGNING SENTIMENT OF THE ORTHODOX 
BELIEVERS." 

This Lactantius, to whom Gibbon refers, lived in the early 
part of the fourth century. Mosheim pronounces him " the 
most learned of the Latin fathers/' He was known in his 
time as "the Christian Cicero." His sentiments upon this sub- 
ject deserve to be presented among our testimonies. "When 
God shall come to judge the world," says he, "and shall 
restore unto life the just that have been since the beginning, 
he shall converse among men a thousand years, and rule them 

with a most righteous government And they that 

shall be raised from the dead shall be over the living as judges. 
And the Gentiles shall not be utterly extinguished ; but some 

shall be left for the victory of God About the same 

time the prince of devils, the forger of all evil, shall be bound 
with chains, and shall be in custody all the thousand years of 
the heavenly empire under which righteousness shall reign over 
the world." Such, then, according to Gibbon, were "the 
reigning sentiments of orthodox believers" for more than 
three centuries of the Christian era. 

The celebrated Chillingworth says, " That this doctrine (of 
the millennium and Christ's personal reign on earth) was by 
the church of the next age after the apostles held true and 
catholic, I prove by these two reasons : — first, whatever doc- 
trine is believed and taught by the most eminent fathers of 
any age of the church, and by none of their contemporaries 
opposed or condemned, that is to be esteemed the catholic 
doctrine of the church of tlose times; but the doctrine of the 



CONCURRING AUTHORITIES. 245 

millenaries was believed and taught by the most eminent 
fathers of the age next after the apostles, and by none of that 
age opposed or condemned; therefore IT WAS THE CATHOLIC 
DOCTRINE OF THOSE TIMES." 

Mosheiin says, " The prevailing opinion, that Christ was to 
come and reign a thousand years among men before the final 
dissolution of the world, had met with no opposition previous 
to the time of Origen." 

Burton says, " It cannot be denied that Papias, Irenseus, 
Justin Martyr, and all the other ecclesiastical writers, be- 
lieved, literally, that the saints would rise in the first resur- 
rection, and reign with Christ upon earth previous to the 
general resurrection." 

Munscher says, " How widely the doctrine of millenarian- 
ism prevailed in the first centuries of Christianity, appears 
from this, that it icas universally received by almost all 
teachers." 

Gieseler says of the first centuries, " Millenarianism be- 
came the general belief of the time." 

Newton says, " The doctrine of the millennium was gene- 
rally believed in the three first and purest ages." 

Semisch says, " The ancients expected a kingdom in this 
world, in which Christ, after his coming, should reign with 
his risen and glorified saints ; that he would visibly return in 
order to establish a terrestrial theocracy as the centre of a 
dominion over the world ; that he would destroy the kingdom 
of Antichrist, and subjugate such worldly powers as are sus- 
ceptible of being fashioned for the divine kingdom; that 
there would be a distinction in the resurrection, first the re- 
surrection of the saints for the divine kingdom, and after- 
wards the rest of the dead at the final judgment ; that there 
would then be perfect happiness of soul and sense, and the 
glorified saints reign together over unglorified humanity." 

But I will not trouble you with needless repetitions. What 



246 THE LAST TIMES. 

these authors have said is just what multitudes of others 
equally learned and disinterested have declared. Russell, and 
Bush, and Lardner, and "Whitby, and Neander, and Mede, and 
Kitto, and Maitland, and Taylor, and Milner, and Barnes, the 
encyclopedias and reviews, friends and enemies, ancients and 
moderns, admit and declare, that the orthodox church, for the 
first two centuries after the apostles, was universally millena- 
rian, and that the leading divines all believed and taught 
substantially what I have brought forward in these discourses.* 
I have not been preaching novelties, as some have been disposed 
to think. I have been giving you only what I find in the 
blessed Bible, — what those believed and taught who made the 
Bible, — and what all the true believers in the revelations of 
God, for more than two hundred years after Christ, accepted as 
the teaching of that holy book. And if I have not proven to 
you that the millenarian faith was the orthodox faith of primi- 
tive Christianity, there is no weight in testimony. Ask the 
fathers, and they will show you — the elders, and they will tell 
you. And if the church of our day is to keep to the simplici 
ties of those early times after which she professes to pattern, 
she must hold to the personal reign of Christ with his saints 
on earth as one of her sublimest hopes. 

It is a sad fact, however, that from the fourth century until 
the sixteenth this doctrine gradually lost its hold upon the minds 
and hearts of professed Christians, and went down into almost 
absolute neglect. But with it went down the great doctrine 
of justification by faith, and nearly every thing that is dis- 
tinguishing in gospel religion. It fell only as popery 
rose ; and it is only as it rises again that popery shall shrink 
and quail. So long as men think they see and hear Christ in 
the pope, and believe that they are worshipping and honoring 
Christ by serving and obeying hierarchies regarded as jure 
livinOj we need never expect them to believe that Christ will 
*ver reign here in person. The two ideas are fundamentally 
* See ] p. ? Q 3-" n 9 



HOW MILLENARIANISM DECLINED. 247 

antagonistic. If Christ is himself to reign here in universal 
empire, he has not given that empire into the hands of a vicar ; 
and if he has made the pope the supreme lord of the world, 
it is settled that he will never reign here otherwise than by 
the pope. Either proposition confutes the other. The two 
cannot live together. And this puts into our hands the key 
to the true explanation how the church has come to lose sight 
of the primitive and apostolic faith upon this subject. 

The processes by which millenarian doctrine was gradually 
reduced to disrepute and neglect are at once curious and 
deplorable. Mosheim says that " its credit began to decline 
•principally through the influence and authority of Origen, 
who opposed it with the greatest warmth, because it was in- 
compatible with some of his favorite sentiments." So, then, 
there was something sinister in the very root of anti-mil- 
lenarianism. And yet Origen could not bring himself to 
renounce the primitive belief altogether. "We do not deny," 
says he, " the purging fire of the destruction of wickedness 
and the renovation of all things. ... If any man shall pre- 
serve the washing of the Holy Spirit, he shall have his part 
in the first resurrection. . . . Wherefore, let us lay the 
Scriptures to heart, and make them the rule of our lives; 
that so, being cleansed from the defilement of sin before we 
depart hence, we may be raised up with the saints, and have 
our lot with Christ Jesus." After all, then, it was more 
the wild caricatures of our doctrine than the doctrine itself 
upon which the burden of his opposition fell. And just so 
Augustine says, that the first resurrection and reign of the 
thousand years "would indeed be tolerable, if it should be 
believed that spiritual delights should redound to the saints 
in that Sabbath by the presence of the Lord; for we also our- 
selves formerly were of that opinion." TVhat induced him to 
change his mind we know not. Perhaps he also had some 
favorite notions to support ! Even J 3rome ; that " unmerciful 



248 THE LAST TIMES. 

scoffer" (as Ward calls him) at our doctrine, is obliged to 
admit some of its leading features, and acknowledges that he 
" durst not condemn it, because many ecclesiastical persons and 
martyrs affirmed the same." 

There are, as I apprehend, three great causes to which we 
are to attribute the decline and fall of ancient millenarianism. 
The first and greatest was that mystical and allegorical method 
of interpreting the Scriptures which Origen set on foot, and 
which has done more mischief to the cause of evangelical 
religion than all the assaults of its enemies. Mosheim says 
that this " unhappy method opened a secure retreat for all sorts 
of errors that a wild and irregular imagination could bring 
forth. Believing it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to 
defend the sacred writings when interpreted literally, accord- 
ing to the real import of the words, he had recourse to the 
fecundity of a lively imagination, and maintained that the 
Holy Scriptures were to be interpreted in the same allegorical 
way that the Platonists explained the history of the gods." 
Who would have supposed that the boasted spiritualizing 
method of modern theologians had its origin in paganism and 
heathen mythology? "Origen alleged that the words of 
Scripture were, in many places, absolutely void of sense! and 
that the true meaning was to be sought in a mysterious and 
hidden sense arising from the nature of things in themselves." 
That is to say, in plain English, we must first form our con- 
clusions from philosophy, or from our preconceptions as to 
how things ought to be, and then interpret the Scriptures 
according to these a priori conclusions ! A beautiful system, 
truly, for ascertaining the meaning of G-od's revelations ! The 
results of its adoption may easily be imagined. There are 
some rich specimens of its operation upon record. One man 
found hidden meaning enough in the interjection "0!" to 
serve him for seven sermons ! Another argued eighty-two 
particulars concerning the Bride of Christ from the hroses of 



origen's method of interpretation 249 

Pharaoh's chariot ! Origen himself gives the meaning of the 
history of Moses thus: — " The king of Egypt is the devil; 
the male and female children of the Hebrews are the rational 
and animal faculties of the soul ; the midwives are the Old and 
New Testaments. Pharoah's daughter is the church ; Moses 
is the law ; the ark and flags in which he was found are the 
absurd and carnal glosses of the Jews," &c. &c. 

I am thus particular in showing what was Origen's alle- 
gorical or spiritual method, because, as Mosheim says, " it was 
followed by a prodigious number of interpreters in that and 
the succeeding ages, and overflowed the church ;" — a system 
which, to this hour, more or less palsies and disgraces our 
hermeneutics. Well has Dr. Clarke said that " every friend 
of rational piety and genuine Christianity must lament that a 
man of so much learning and unaffected godliness should have 
been led to countenance, much less to recommend, a plan of 
interpreting the divine oracles, in many respects the most 
futile, absurd and dangerous that can possibly be conceived ; 
and by which the sacred writings may be obliged to say any 
thing, every thing, or nothing, according to the fancy, peculiar 
creed, or caprice of the interpreter." And Milner declares 
that "a thick mist for ages pervaded the Christian world, 
supported by Origen's allegorical manner of interpretation. 
The learned alone were considered as guides, implicitly to be 
followed; and the vulgar, when the literal sense was hissed off 
the stage, had nothing to do but to follow their authority 
wherever it might lead them." 

This, then, was, the system, "pernicious," "unhappy," 
"mischievous," "lamentable to every friend of genuine 
Christianity," injurious beyond every thing else, casting dark- 
ness over the whole field of inspired truth, throwing un- 
certainty over all Christian hope, and, in the hands of its own 
author, making the Bride of Christ the daughter of the devil ! 
This was the system by which the glorious anticipations 



250 THE LAST TIMES. 

of the primitive church were declared mere fable ! This is 
the system which modern Christians may thank for striking 
from their creed the sublime hopes of this world's ultimate 
renovation and Christ's personal reign over it in eternal peace ! 
I should think that the schoov of spiritualizers have nothing 
to boast of in the line of their paternity. 

But there was another matter relating to this period, the 
influence of which gradually increased and spread through 
succeeding ages, prompting men to lay hold of any artifice 
or device to get rid of the primitive millenarian doctrine. I 
refer to the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, and the 
consequent elevation of the church to the patronage of the 
civil government. " It was the constant and uniform opinion 
of the church previous to this period," says Brooks, "that 
Borne would become the seat of Antichrist ; that the empire 
would be divided into ten kingdoms; that then Antichrist 
would be revealed and prosper for a time ) and that, after the 
reigning power should have suffered a signal discomfiture, the 
dominion should be altogether taken from the Eternal City. 
Such a notion could not be palatable to the Boman emperor, 
if known to him ; and the less so if it was further understood 
that some had already mused in their hearts whether the 
emperor himself were not personally the Antichrist. These 
things must have been very perplexing to those ecclesiastics 
now mingling with the court who were of a compliant and 
secular spirit: which may be judged of, when we find an 
honest, bold and godly man like Lactantius expressing him- 
self on these topics with avowed reluctance. . . . The con- 
venient explication, however, was soon discovered and adopted 
by many, that Antichrist xoas pagan Rome, and that from the 
date of Constantine's conversion the millennium commenced." 
A strange millennium and binding of Satan that, which com- 
prised the rancorous dissensions, bickerings, persecutions and 
mischievous strifes that originated in the Arian controversy ! 



PERVERSIONS OF OUR DOCTRINE. 251 

Vet able men maintained the foolish idea. Others betook 
themselves to the work of raising questions to obscure the 
divine authority of the Apocalypse, in which the doctrine of 
the millennium is taught. And all to make the Christian 
creed agreeable to the pride and vanity of a Roman emperor ! 

After a while, when the Bishop of Rome came to be ele- 
vated to the high rank of universal father, the embarrassment 
became still greater. "The inconvenience of explaining 
Rome to be the capital city of Antichrist was more sensibly 
felt than ever, and could not be asserted without giving 
occasion for the very obvious conclusion that the bishop of 
Rome would some day apostatize, together with the church of 
which he was the head. Accordingly, from the time of Jus- 
tinian, efforts were both openly and clandestinely made to get 
rid of the doctrine altogether, by removing or corrupting the 
evidence in its favor, or by affixing to it the stigma of heresy. 
Pope Damascus endeavored peremptorily to put it down by a 
decree. And some works of the fathers which were in favor 
of it were successfully suppressed, and others were altered or 
interpolated to make them read as was desired." (Brooks' 
Elements of Interpretation, pp. 48-60.) 

You will thus perceive how sycophancy, villany, corruption 
and vanity combined with Origen's pernicious obscurations 
of holy writ for the suppression of the primitive and apos- 
tolic doctrine of the millennium. 

There was yet another particular which was made to con- 
tribute materially to the process of cheating the church out 
of its ancient hopes. Like all other doctrines of the Bible, 
this respecting the millennium has suffered in the hands of 
some of its advocates. Some of its early believers spoke of it 
in a manner liable to perversion, or connected it with fancies 
or fables which have nothing to do with it. Cerinthus was a 
heretic; and yet he had advocated the doctrine of Christ's 
personal reign en earth, and arrayed its scenes in the fancies 



252 THE LAST TIMES 

of his own carnal heart. Here was a fine chance to stigma- 
tize the whole thing as a sensual and heretical dream, which 
was not suffered to pass unimproved. Irenssus had also put 
upon record a floating story that the earth, in the millennuim, 
will be so productive that "a grain of wheat will produce ten 
thousand heads ; and each head will yield ten thousand grains; 
and each grain will yield ten pounds of flour; and other fruits 
will yield seeds and herbage in the same proportion I" &c. 
That the earth will be extraordinarily fruitful in the good 
days to come, is distinctly declared in the Scriptures. Joel 
says, "The mountains shall drop down new wine, and the 
hills flow with milk." Yet the excessive exaggerations of the 
matter by some enthusiastic persons were precious morsels for 
those who wished to destroy the millenarian hopes. On other 
subjects, wild caricatures furnished no ground for their rejec- 
tion ; but upon this no allowances could be made. And then, 
as now, these innocent extravagances were most unjustly, but 
still effectively, paraded around by the opposers of our doctrine, 
to bring it into disrepute, and to defame it as a mere fancy of 
over-credulous and weak people. 

Such, then, were the processes, facilitated by the growing 
corruptions of the times, by which the doctrines of the pri- 
mitive church on this subject were suppressed and branded as 
heresy. Can any man do justice to himself, or to the revela- 
tions of his God, and not appeal from a decision thus brought 
about, and recoil from it with indignation and abhorrence ? It 
was the decision of sycophancy, deceit and unholy degrada- 
tions and perversions of the law and the testimony. And yet 
the Christian world, to this day, has not recovered from it. 

But God did not leave himself without witnesses. From 
the times of Origen to Augustin, and down into papal ages, 
we can still find many distinguished names whose authority 
was distinctly given in favor of millenarian views. Among 
these were Apollinarius, Lactantius, Victorinus, many of the 



THE VIEWS OF LUTHER. 253 

members of the Council of Nice, Epiphanius, Paulinus, Cris- 
pold, Norbert and others. But the ages of darkness came. 
Star after star went out, until the world was at its cloudy mid- 
night. And the hope of the millennial reign, with all other 
great doctrines of the Scripture, slept, until God called Lu- 
ther, and the light of Christianity's renewal came. 

What were this great man's views upon this subject, is no- 
where specifically given. Yet he has left enough on record to 
demonstrate that his sentiments differed materially from those 
generally prevalent.* 

1. His method of interpreting the Scriptures was the mil- 
lenarian method. On Deuteronomy he says, "I here once 
more repeat, what I have so often insisted on, that the Chris- 
tian should direct his efforts towards understanding the so- 
called literal sense of Scripture; which alone is the substance 
of faith and of Christian theology, — which alone will sustain 
him in the hour of trouble and temptation, — and which will 
triumph over sin, death and the gates of hell, to the praise 
and glory of God. The allegorical sense is usually uncertain, 
and by no means safe to build our faith upon ; for it depends 
for the most part on human opinion only, on which if a man 
lean, he will find it to be no better than the Egyptian reed. 
Therefore, Origen, Jerome, and similar of the fathers, are to 
be avoided, with the whole of that Alexandrian school which 
abounds in this species of interpretation" 

2. He denied that there will be a millennium of universal 
righteousness and peace before Christ comes. He says, 
" They (the pope and his rabble) shall be preserved until the 
coming of Christ, whose most bitter enemies they are and 
ever have been." He says that " the gospel shall continue to 
be preached even to the end of time, but not so as that all 
men shall repent and accept of it; for this shall never be; the 
devil will not suffer things to be brought so far, and the world 
without him is the enemy of the word, and will not be ad- 

* See Note I, page 354. 
22 



254 THE LAST TIMES. 

monished. There shall, therefore, be and remain in the world 
manifold perversions of faith and religion." And again he 
says, " The last days shall be days of unmeasured wickedness, 
as Christ says, ' When the Son of man cometh, shall he find 
faith on the earth V " 

3. Luther taught that the earth shall be restored to its 
original excellence, and that it shall be the residence of the 
glorified saints. On 2 Pet. iii. 13, he says, " God has pro- 
mised through the prophets, here and elsewhere, that he wil. 
make heaven and earth new again. How it shall be, we 
know not, except that the promise is that heaven and earth 
shall become such that no sin shall be in them, but righteous- 
ness only, and that they shall be the residence of the children 

of God This text teaches that we shall live upon earth, 

and that the entire heaven and earth shall become a paradise 
of God." 

4 Luther spoke of Christ's kingship in a way which can 
be justified only on the supposition that he is to reign literally 
and personally in this world. On the second Psalm he says, 
" Christ was appointed King upon the holy Mount Zion. This 
is particularly to be remarked ; for the Holy Ghost mentions 
the corporeal Zion, that we may be assured that this king is 
divinely appointed, and is a real Man. . . . The Person and 
the place are appointed and made known. The Person is the 
Son of God, and he is King in Zion; that is, the Son of 
David, and the heir of David ', and he who was promised to 
David to he the King over the circumcised people over whom 
David reigned. We are, therefore, to expect this man to 
teach in Zion, and to reveal himself in Zion, because he is ap- 
pointed of God to be King of Zion The eternal Father 

himself crowned him to be King of Zion, on Mount Zion, in 

the city of Jerusalem He is the Son of God, yet born a 

man corporeally, that he might receive the throne of his father 
David, and rule in Zion." The present form of Christ's king- 



OF MELANCTHON. 255 

doin he describes as that in which he " reigneth no otherwise 
than as master of a hospital amoDgst the sick, poor, and dis- 
eased/' but as to be followed by another "of glory and abso- 
lute felicity, in which sin with its attendants shall trouble 
man no more." 

5. Luther believed that the great purposes of God's mercy 
would reach their consummation at the end of the six thou- 
sand years from the creation, according to the saying of Elias 
and the belief of the primitive church. 

6. Luther believed and taught that this consummation was 
to be expected every day. On Daniel xii. 7, he says, " I ever 
keep it before me, and I am satisfied, that the last day must 
be before the door; for the signs predicted by Christ and the 
apostles Peter and Paul have all now been fulfilled, the trees 
put forth, the Scriptures are green and blooming. That we 
cannot know the day, matters not ; some one else may point it 
out; things are certainly near their end." Again, "We cer- 
tainly have nothing now to wait for but the end of all things." 
Again, " Let us not think that the coming of Christ is far off. 
Let us look up with uplifted heads, and with a longing and 
cheerful mind expect our Redeemer's coming. Though the 
signs may seem uncertain, yet no man can despise them with- 
out danger." " I persuade myself, verily, that the day of 
judgment will not be absent full three hundred years more. 
Grod will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer." 

Melancthon taught in the same style. He insisted that the 
Mahometan empire and the papacy shall not be destroyed 
till the time of the resurrection of the dead ; that the world 
would endure six thousand years in its present state, and then 
enter upon a millennary Sabbath according to the saying of 
Elias; and that "we may be sure that this aged world is not 
far from its end." 

Thus, with the dawn of renewed Christianity, we see the 
glimmerings again of the ancient faith upon this subject. 



256 THE LAST TIMES. 

Gradually, slowly, and against various hindrances, it once more 
came forth to the view of mankind. Many of the English 
Reformers were decidedly millenarian. In all reformed Chris- 
tendom various men of God (such as Comenius, Jurieu, Sera- 
rius, Poiret, Mede, Burnet, Peterson, Spener, Lange, Bengel, 
Boos, Oetinger, Stilling, Lavater, Sander and Hofmann) 
rose up to defend and proclaim the hopes of Justin, Irenasus 
and Tertullian. Just as men studied the prophecies, and read 
them as God caused them to be written, the advocates of the 
ancient faith increased, until now we can number some of the 
greatest, wisest, holiest and most eloquent men upon earth 
among the defenders of the sublime hopes of the millenarian 
creed. 

Nor is our doctrine that barren and useless thing which its 
enemies have represented it to be. Its influence, wherever 
believed, has been salutary and comforting. Dodwell testifies, 
"It was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive 
Christians, who even coveted martyrdom in hopes of being 
partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs in the 
first resurrection." Bishop Newton endorses this statement 
as " just." Gibbon says that as long as this error (as he calls 
it) was permitted to subsist in the church, it was productive 
of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of Chris- 
tians, who lived in the awful expectation of that moment 
when the globe itself, and all the various race of mankind, 
should tremble at the appearance of their divine Judge." 
Bush, though an enemy to this doctrine, says, " We have no 
difficulty in supposing the belief in the millenarian error was 
calculated to produce, and did produce, results of a most 
auspicious character, which a different construction of the 
sacred oracles would have failed to effect." Such testimony, 
from such sources, is sufficient. Grapes do not grow upon 
thorns, nor figs upon thistles "A corrupt tree cannot bring 
forth good fruit." 



PRIMITIVE AND MODERN FAITH. 257 

Everywhere the Scriptures refer us to Christ's coming and 
kingdom as the great motive to repentance, holiness and 
watchfulness. The Savior commands us to watch and pray, 
because we know not what hour the Lord cometh. Our mo- 
deration is to be made known unto all men, for the reason 
that "the Lord is at hand." Amid all the calamities and 
disturbances that howl around us, we are to lift up our heads, 
and stand unmoved, " for the day of our redemption draweth 
nigh." And who does not see and feel that if we did really 
believe the solemn truth that any day we may witness Christ's 
final appearing, we would be much more circumspect, prayer- 
ful and diligent at our posts ? The practical effects of such a 
faith would be like a resurrection to our dead and slumbering 
churches. It would be like a new Pentecost to the wilted 
hopes of our degenerate Christianity. 

Brethren, there is one thought more to which I must give 
utterance in this connection. It relates to the difference 
between primitive and modern faith and hope. It would seem 
as if the church had quite drifted away from her ancient 
moorings. The early Christians dwelt upon no subject more 
than that of the coming and kingdom of the Son of man. 
But who among the great mass of living professors is looking 
for that glorious advent which is to consummate all the 
gracious purposes of God ? Who is expecting Christ ? Who 
believes that his appearing is at hand ? Who acts now from 
the great idea of impending judgment ? Who is not dream- 
ing of a millennium first ? If Christ were now to come, how 
many of you could look up and say, "This is my Lord; I 
have waited for him ; blessed is he that cometh in the name 
of the Lord !" Would not such an occurrence rather fill you 
with dismay, and make you cry out in surprise and despair ? 
Such was not the mental condition of the first Christians, who 
Buffered, looking for the coming of the Savior. They looked 
for him every day; most of you are not looking for him at all 

R 22* 



258 THE LAST TIMES. 

They looked for him with desire and hope ; most of you nevuf 
think of his coming but with fear and dread. They thirsted 
for it, and longed for the scenes it is to reveal ; many of you 
rather wish that Christ might never come, and would be more 
comfortable if you could think that the whole thing were a 
fable. They watched every turn in human affairs, in the hope 
that the next would bring their Redeemer from the heavens 
and give them the kingdom ; but, amid the most wonderful 
commotions in society that man ever witnessed, people now 
stand callous and unmoved, as if they had nothing to hope for 
and no interests to lose ! Alas, alas ! it would seem as if all 
the hardness and unbelief of eighteen centuries were accumu- 
lating upon this generation. "Ask thy father, and he will 
shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." 

There is but one way of safety left. We must take the 
gospel — the simple gospel as Christ has given it — and make it 
reality in our experience and our hopes, or we must take death 
and everlasting despair. The decree of the Eternal has gone 
forth, and we must be hid in Christ or perish. We are 
hemmed in to this, and there is no escape. All other depend- 
ence is vain. The very ground beneath our feet is quaking 
and gliding away. And, unless we plant ourselves firmly and 
at once upon the Rock of ages, we shall soon find ourselves 
tossing upon the boisterous flood of a starless and rayless 
eternity. Behold and wonder j but do not despise and perish. 
Rise ; call upon Grod. What you do, do quickly. And may 
Jehovah be our portion, and helper, and everlasting friend ! 
Amen. 

"EE LEFT NOT HIMSELF WITHOUT WITNESS." 

Still, through decaying ages, as they glide, 
Jehovah's faithful witnesses abide ; 
Sprinkled along the waste of years, 
Full many a soft green isle appears : 
• Pause where we may upon the desert road, 
Some signal is in sight to cheer us on to God. 



ELEVENTH DISCOURSE. 

WHEN SHALL CHRIST COME ? — THE TIME NOT WHOLLY A SECRET — 
RELATION OF CHRIST'S COMING, IN POINT OF TIME, TO OTHER 
THINGS PREDICTED IN THE SCRIPTURES — FIRST METHOD OF COM- 
PUTING THE TIME, OR MILLENNIAL SEPTENARY SECOND METHOD, 

OR 1260 YEARS' DOMINANCE OF THE PAPACY — THIRD METHOD, OR 
THE VIALS OF WRATH. 



James v. 8 : Stablish your hearts : for the coming of the Lord 
draweih nigh. 

If, then, it is a truth that Christ the Lord shall return 
again to this world, as the Scriptures so explicitly affirm, and 
as is acknowledged in all the creeds, confessions and hymn- 
books in Christendom, one of the most stirring questions con- 
cerning it is, When shall he come ? 

This question was again and again asked by the disciples 
while he was yet on earth, and must ever possess a lively 
interest to every thoroughly Christian heart. But, of all 
questions relating to our faith and hope, this is, perhaps, the 
most difficult to be answered. Nay, so far as respects the 
precise day or year, it cannot be answered by man or angel. 
"The times and seasons the Father hath put in his own 
power." 

It is true, however, that we need not remain in such total 
ignorance on the subject as that that day must needs come 
upon us unawares. Daniel was indeed directed to "shut, 
up the words and seal the book" of his visions concerning it; 
but they were to remain " closed up and sealed till the time 

259 



260 THE LAST TIMES. 

of the end" only; and he assures us that then "the wise 
shall understand," though " the wicked shall not understand." 
Jesus himself has described the signs which are to precede it, 
by which we may as infallibly judge of the nearness of the 
end as we judge of the proximity of summer by the budding 
of the trees. Paul says expressly that " the children of light" 
" are not in darkness, that that day should overtake them as 
a thief." And in the Apocalypse, which is specially devoted 
to the portrayal of the grand scenes of Christ's revelation 
and the events which are to precede and accompany it, the 
particular promise is given, " Blessed is he that readeth and 
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those 
things which are written therein f which certainly implies 
the possibility of being able to understand these things with 
some good degree of certainty if we will only investigate with 
proper attention and prayerfulness. Hence Luther expressed 
it as his belief that God would yet raise up some one who 
should be able to reckon up the times, and with certainty hit 
upon the very day. I hold, therefore, that, instead of ren- 
dering ourselves chargeable with irreverent prying into the 
secrets of Deity by inquiring when. Christ shall come, it is 
our hopeful duty so to inquire ; and that, if any man lack 
wisdom to understand what the Scriptures have said upon 
this point, he may ask G-od and expect it to be given him as 
liberally as upon any other subject. It is noted, in commenda- 
tion of the prophets, that they " searched what manner of 
time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify;" 
and why should not similar searching be commendable in us ? 
When the disciples asked the Lord, " Tell us when shall these 
things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of 
the end of the age," he kindly entertained their request ; and 
now that we are bordering so near upon the time, will he be 
angry with us for pressing the same inquiry? ' And when the 
Pharisees and Sadducees came to him with their tempting 



WHEN SHALL CHRIST COME. 261 

skepticism, did he not rebuke them as hypocrites who could 
" discern the face of the sky/' but would not put themselves 
to the pains to "discern the signs of the times "? Let us 
beware, then, how we scout this question, lest we "fall through 
the same example of unbelief;" and let us reverently approach 
the holy oracles to learn what God has revealed to us, to ascer- 
tain our position in the calendar of prophecy and to make ready 
for the solemn scenes that are before us. May the Lord aid 
us in our inquiries ! 

Our question is, When shall the Son of man come ? 
I propose to consider it, first, relatively, by showing in what 
connections with other predicted events the Scriptures place 
the coming of Christ ; and second, absolutely ', by showing to 
what period things are pointing as the time of the Savior's 
coming. 

1. The Son of man shall come in a period of abounding 
apostasy, unbelief and wickedness. Such was the condition 
of the world when God sent the flood; and Jesus says, "As 
the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son 
of man be." Peter says, " There shall come in the last days 
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is 
the promise of his coming?" Paul says of the coming of 
the Lord Jesus, " That day shall not come, except there come 
a falling away first;" and that "in the last days perilous 
times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, 
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are 
good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more 
than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying 
the power thereof." Such statements need no comment. 
Christ will come in a" period of abounding guilt and faithless- 
ness. 

2. He shall come in a period of revolutionary troubles, 



262 THE LAST TIMES. 

political perplexities and great national agitations. Jesus 
says, " There shall be upon the earth distress of nations, with 
perplexity; the sea and the waves thereof roaring; men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things 
that are coming on the earth : for the powers of heaven shall 
be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming 
in a cloud, with power and great glory." According to the 
Revelation of John, the final advent is to be immediately pre- 
ceded by the outpouring of sundry vials of wrath in quick 
succession, each one filling nations with trouble, anguish and 
desperation. The Psalmist says of tha same period that God 
shall speak to the kings and rulers of the earth in his wrath, 
" and vex them in his sore displeasure." This point is also 
sufficiently plain and well settled. 

3. The Son of man shall come while the ten ultimate divi- 
sions or kingdoms of the Roman empire are still standing. 
This is clearly revealed in Daniel's interpretations of Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream of " the great image." That image sym- 
bolized the four great monarchies that were to exist and suc- 
ceed each other upon earth. The first was the Babylonian, or 
golden head of the image, the lion with eagle's wings. The 
second, or silver breast and arms, was the Medo-Persian, the 
great-toothed devouring bear. The third, or brazen loins and 
thighs, was the Macedonian or Alexander's kingdom, the 
leopard with four wings and four heads. And the fourth, 
or iron legs and feet, was the Roman empire, the dreadful, 
terrible and mighty ten-horned beast which devoured and 
trampled down every thing before it. The ten toes, or ten 
horns, are the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was 
divided by the barbarian invasions, and which now stand as 
the representatives of the old Roman empire. And Daniel 
tells us that " in the days of these kings (denoted by the ten 
toes and horns) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." 
He says that he beheld unti' these thrones were cast down, 



HE WILL COME BEFORE THE JEWS ARE RESTORED. 263 

and the time that the beast was slain was the time when the 
judgment should sit, and " one like the Son of man came 
with the clouds of heaven." The same is taught in the 
visions of John. The ten-horned beast of the thirteenth 
chapter can be none other than the Roman empire, and its 
ten horns its ten divisions. And, according to the nineteenth 
chapter, it continues in existence, persecuting the saints and 
warring against the Lamb, until destroyed by the personal 
descent of him whose name is The Word of God, King of 
kings, and Lord of lords. This point, then, is also suffi- 
ciently established. 

4. The Son of man shall come before the Jews as an entire 
people shall be restored to Palestine. There will be a portion 
of Jacob restored before the Lord comes, but not the entire 
race. It is expressly said that when God assembles Jacob 
and gathers the remnant of Israel, " their King shall pass 
before them, and the Lord on the head of them :" (Micah ii. 
12,13.) "The Lord will go before them, and the God of 
Israel will be their rearward :" (Isa. Hi. 12.) He must there- 
fore be on earth before this general gathering of the Jews 
takes place. It is further evident from the twelfth of Zecha- 
riah, the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth of Ezekiel, and the 
eighteenth and nineteenth of Revelation, that Christ is per- 
sonally present when the terrible destruction occurs to the 
armies that invade Palestine; whilst it is plain from the sixty- 
sixth of Isaiah that it is only after that terrific overthrow that 
the great and triumphant assembling of Israel takes place. It 
is those who escape that awful destruction that are to go to 
the nations, Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, Javan, and the isles 
afar off, and make known the wonders they witnessed: and 
only then shall the Gentiles bring all the children of Israel out 
of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and 
upon mules, and upon swift vehicles, to God's holy mountain 
Jerusalem, for an offering unto the Lord: (Isa. Ixvi. 19, 20) 



264 THE LAST TIMES. 

It is also explicitly stated that the time of Israel's deliverance 
is when Christ personally comes; not before. So Paul affirms 
in Romans xi. 26, which he says is the teaching of the pro- 
phets. So the Psalmist says : — " When the Lord shall build up 
Zion, he shall appear in his glory." And so Zechariah de- 
clares, when God shall "pour upon the house of David, and 
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and 
supplication, they shall look upon him whom they have 
pierced." Christ will therefore come before the general 
restoration of Israel. 

5. He will come while the papacy and the Man of sin still 
live and continue in power. It is now established, as well as 
any interpretation of prophecy can be, that the " little horn" 
in Daniel's vision (Dan. vii. 8-24) denotes the papal power. 
And he says, " I beheld, and the same horn made war with 
the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of 
days came" It must live on, then, until Christ comes — until 
"the judgment shall sit." That the "Man of sin, the son of 
perdition," in 2d Thessalonians, is a power closely akin to the 
pope and his apostasy, is also pretty well agreed by Protestants. 
But Paul describes him as pressing his work of deceit and 
blasphemy until "destroyed by the appearing of Christ's own 
presence." And in John's account of the doings of Jesus in 
the great day when he shall come forth in his wrath, we find 
this self-same monster still existing, still arrayed against God, 
and only taken and destroyed by the administrations of the 
great day of God Almighty. The Son of man shall therefore 
certainly come whilst the papacy and antichrist still live. 

6. He shall come in a period when a far-sounding cry shall 
be raised in slumbering Christendom that his advent is at 
hand. The Savior tells us that in that 'period "the kingdom 
of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins who went forth to 
meet the bridegroom; but while the bridegroom tarried they 
all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry 



HE WILL COME UNEXPECTED BY THE WORLD. 265 

made, Behold, the bridegroom comcth; go ye out to meet him.'* 
That this parable portrays the condition of the church in the 
period of the advent, there can be no room for doubt. Christ, 
in the preceding chapter, was engaged in a description of his 
coming and the end of the age. And this is but a continuation 
of that discourse. " Then," says he, — that is, in the time when 
what I have said shall be fulfilled, — then shall the kingdom of 
heaven — the community of professing Christians — be lite the 
ten virgins. They shall sleep with regard to this great sub- 
ject. And while they sleep the announcement shall go forth 
that the bridegroom is coming. The same thing is set forth 
in the Apocalypse, where, in connection with the scenes of 
the last days, the announcement of the blessed Savior is, 
u Behold, 1 come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth!" 
All this shows that in the period of the advent, a cry declar- 
ing his coming shall be poured upon the dull ear of Chris- 
tendom. 

7. But, notwithstanding the cry, Christ shall come when 
but few will at all believe that his advent is near. He says 
himself, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith 
on the earth?" "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son 
of man cometh." "Evil servants shall say in their hearts, 
My Lord delayeth his coming." Some will scoff and say, 
"Where is the promise of his coming?" People will be say- 
ing "Peace and safety," when sudden destruction shall come 
upon them. " As in the days that were before the flood, they 
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage," — 
self-contentedly pursuing the vanities and pleasures of earth, 
— " and knew not until the flood came and took them all away : 
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 

From these plain statements of the word of God, two things 
may be remarked. The first is, that there certainly is to be 
no thousand years of universal righteousness and peace pre- 
vious to Christ's coming. The second is, that we need fix 

23 



266 THE LAST TIMES. 

upon no other times for Christ's coming than the times in 
which we live. 

I proceed, then, to the second branch of the subject, in 
which I proposed to bring forward what light can be obtained 
for a somewhat more direct and categorical answer to the 
question, When shall Christ come? Nor is there as much 
barrenness upon this line of inquiry as may be supposed. 
There are sundry distinct and independent processes by which 
information may be gathered. And if we should find upon 
examination that these several processes harmonize in their 
results, we may take them as mutually corroborative, the one 
as sustaining the truthfulness of the other, whilst the com- 
bined testimony of all, if found to agree, must create a very 
strong probability in favor of the period to which they 
point. 

The first method of computing the time I will introduce by 
a quotation from Johnston, a distinguished writer on the pro- 
phecies. " Through the whole Scripture, both of the Old and 
New Testaments," says he, " there is a striking typical repre- 
sentation of some great and important Sabbath, as a great 
septenary that has not yet taken place, and which evidently 
appears to be the millenarian septenary, as the great Sabbath 
of the whole earth. God blessed the seventh day, and hal- 
lowed it. In the Decalogue this peculiar distinguishment of 
the seventh day, or weekly sabbath, was most solemnly renewed. 
Every seventh year was appointed a sabbatical year. And the 
commencement of the year of jubilee, which was every fiftieth 
year, was to be fixed by the running of a septenary of sabbati- 
cal years. ( Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto 
thee, seven years, and the space of the seven sabbaths of 
years shall be unto thee forty and nine years/ The numbei 
seven, because used in Scripture to complete all the sacred 
divisions of time, was regarded by the Jews as the symbol of 
perfection, and is used in this sense in Scripture. The ques- 



THE SEVENTH MILLENNIUM. 267 

tion then arises, Is it to be supposed that all these events, 
which are interwoven with the Mosaic dispensation, which was 
itself symbolical or typical, and which are introduced into the 
New Testament, and abound so much in the book of Revela- 
tion, have no antetype to correspond to them ? — no great sab- 
batical septenary to which they all point and in which they 
all shall be accomplished ? Is it not highly probable that they 
are all typical of the seventh millenary of the earth, which is 
the great Sabbath?" To this I may answer that it is not 
only probable, but the next thing to absolute certainty. 

When we go back into antiquity, whether Jewish, heathen 
or Christian, we find a general and deeply-seated belief that 
the world shall endure six thousand years in. its secular and 
toiling state, answering to the six days of the creation; and 
that then will follow a thousand years of holy rest, peace and 
joy, — the millennial Sabbath, or golden period of the world. 
Bishop Russell, of Scotland, says, "It is found in the most 
ancient of those commentaries of the Old Testament which we 
owe to the learning of the Rabbinical school;" and that "there 
is no room for doubt that the notion preceded by several cen- 
turies the introduction of the Christian faith." It is given as 
a tradition of the house of Elias, and thought by many to date 
back to the great prophet Elijah. Professor Bush, in his book 
against the millennium, speaks of this tradition, and says, "It 
is but fair to admit, that, as there is nothing in the Scriptures 
which directly contradicts it, it may be well founded." Ac- 
cording to Plutarch, the Chaldeans had a similar belief. 
Zoroaster also taught it. Daubuz says that the Tuscans held 
it, and that it is retained among the Persians to this day. The 
Magi entertained it. We saw in a previous discourse that it 
was held and inculcated, as a branch of Christian truth, by 
Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Papias, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, 
and all orthodox Christians for the first centuries of the Chris- 
tian era. Luther entertained it. Melancthon wrote it on the 



268 THE LAST TIMES. 

fly-leaf of the Bible, as a matter not to be disputed Thousands 
of divines since his time have received it as part of their 
faith. And when we come to place together certain state- 
ments of the Scriptures, there seems to me to be a weight of 
testimony in its favor sufficient to warrant us in regarding it 
as sacred truth. Look at these sentences : — 
11 In six days the Lord made heaven and earth "' 
" On the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." 
" One day is with the Lord as a thousand years" 
"There remaineth therefore a rest — ffafifiaztfffxos, a 

KEEPING OP SABBATH — TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD." 

I have shown that Christ will come before the millennium, 
not after it. The millennium is the seventh thousand years, 
or great Sabbath, of the world. Now then, if we can ascer- 
tain in what period of the world's age we live, we may form 
some idea of the time when the Son of man shall come. To 
ascertain this with certain accuracy is impossible ; but we may 
approximate the truth with some degree of reliability. Tie 
holy Book, to which we are indebted for what else we know 
upon this subject, has not left blank the department of dates. 
The births and ages of the ancient patriarchs, both before 
and since the flood, have been so particularly and circum- 
stantially recorded that we can readily measure the period 
through which they lived by summing the united lengths of 
time occupied by the several generations. There are also 
various important records by which to measure the duration 
of the servitude in Egypt, of the wandering in the wilder- 
ness, and of the reign of the Judges, by whom Israel was 
governed to the institution of the kingdom under Saul. From 
that on to the ^Babylonian captivity the name of every king 
is given in succession, with the length of time each one 
reigned. And from the time of the captivity to the present, 
records, both sacred and profane, are such as leave but little 
room for uncertainty. 



OPINIONS OF CHRONOLOGISTS. 269 

The commonly received chronology, which is usually found 
printed in the margins of our Bibles, is no part of the in- 
spired record. These dates are inserted from a system framed 
by Archbishop Usher, and others. It is now agreed that it is 
defective in many particulars. According to that, it would 
yet be about one hundred and thirty-five years to the end of 
the sixth thousand. Capellus reduces this one year; Ken- 
nedy, Bedford, and Ferguson, 3 years ; Playfair and Walker, 
4; Rheinhold, 16; Pererius and Jarvis, 17; Langius, 37; 
Spondanus and Torniellus, 47; Salianus, 49; Maimonides 
and Blancarnus, 54 ; Riccioli, 58 ; Chinese Jews, 75 ; De 
Pontac, 84; Genebrard, 86; Bibera, 91; Lidyat, 99; Browne, 
117; Vignier, Bowen, and Elliott, 124; Shimeall and Saville 
about 130; and Fynes, Clinton and others reduce the time to 
still shorter limits. Having looked somewhat into these chro- 
nological matters, I am satisfied that it would be wrong to 
rely with too much confidence upon either of these or any 
other like reckonings. There is uncertainty about them all. 
In the general, however, those are in every way the most reli- 
able which leave but little of the six thousand years unex- 
pired. I have been led to believe that we now are, most pro- 
bably, in the 5994th year of the world since the creation of 
Adam ; which would bring us, at the present, (1863,) within 
some seven years of the Sabbatic Millennium and the glorious 
epiphany of our Lord. At any rate, we may be pretty confi- 
dent that we shall reach the consummation before the end of 
this century.* 

We pass, then, to another method of computation on this 
subject, to see whither it will conduct us. 

The " little horn" described in the seventh of Daniel, the 
prophet declares, "made war with the saints, and prevailed 

* See Note K, page 356. 
23* 



270 THE LAST TIMES. 

against them, until the Ancient of days came, and judgment 
was given to the saints j" that is, until the coming of Christ. 
He also tells us the duration of the period in which the saints 
are thus to be afflicted. "They shall be given into his hand 
until a time and times, and the dividing of time," or three 
ye^rs and a half. These are of course prophetic or symboli- 
cal years, in which each day stands for a year ; as in Numb, 
xiv. 13 ; Ez. iv. 4-6 ; Rev. ii. 10 ; Dan. ix. 24 ; where this 
matter is sufficiently explained, a day standing for a year. So 
Melancthon and the Magdeburg centuriators understood them. 
Professor Stuart says, " The great mass of interpreters in the 
English and American world have, for many years, been wont 
to understand the days designated in Daniel and the Apoca- 
lypse as the representatives or symbols of years. I have found 
it difficult to trace the origin of this general, I might say, 
almost universal custom." Professor Bush says, " In taking 
a day as the prophetical time for a year, I believe you are 
sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the 
high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Faber, Scott, Bishop 
Newton, Keith, and a host of others If the old year- 
day is wrong, not only has the whole Christian world been 
led astray for ages by a mere ignis-fatuus of false hermeneu- 
tics, but the church is at once cut loose from every chronolo- 
gical mooring, and set adrift on the open sea, without the 
vestige of a beacon, lighthouse, or star by which to determine 
her bearings or distances from the desired millennial haven 
to which she had hoped she was tending." 

Three years and a half, as men anciently reckoned, contain 
twelve hundred and sixty days. Twelve hundred and sixty 
years, then, is the length of the period from the giving of the 
saints into the hand of the little horn to the judgment and 
soming of the Ancient of days. Hence, if we can ascertain 
when the saints were given into the hand of the little horn, 
we may judge of the time when Christ is likely to come. 



1260 YEARS OF THE LITTLE HORN. 271 

I have said that this little horn denotes the papacy. It may 
have other applications, but this, without doubt, must be in- 
cluded. 

The terrible beast on which it grew certainly represents the 
Roman empire ; and the papacy arose upon the Roman empire. 

It grew up among ten other horns of this beast, which are 
ten kings or kingdoms ; the papacy sprung into being from 
among the ten separate but closely-related powers into which 
the old Roman empire was divided by the barbarian invasions. 

Before this little horn, three of the other horns were 
plucked up ; the papacy possessed itself of the Gothic king- 
dom of Odoacer, which fell in 493, the Ostrogothic kingdom 
of Theodoric, which fell in 554, and the Lombardic kingdom 
of Alboin, which fell in 774 ; and thus, as proclaimed in the 
bull against Queen Elizabeth, he subdued three kingdoms. 

This little horn was " diverse from the first," or other ten ; 
the papacy is an ecclesiastico-political establishment, altogether 
different in its elements from the other kingdoms in which it 
sprung up. 

" In this (little) horn were eyes, like the eyes of a man." 
The papacy claims to be a universal overseer, and is full of 
cunning, subtlety and far-sighted plans. 

It had also "a mouth speaking great things" — "great 
words against the Most High," and "his look was more stout 
than his fellows." The papacy has ever been characterized 
by its pompous, arrogant, sacrilegious and blasphemous as- 
sumptions. There never has been a king or potentate on 
earth who has ventured upon such pretensions as the pope of 
Rome. 

The little horn " thought to change times and laws." 
Since the times of Julius Caesar, none but the papacy has ever 
arrogated the right to regulate the calendar, or to dictate and 
annul the legislation of the world. 

This little horn prevailed against the saints, and wearied 
them out, and had them in his hand. The papacy is th* 



272 THE LAST TIMES. 

power from which the humble confessors of Jesus have suf- 
fered more than from Nero and Caligula. 

In every particular the prophetic description fits the papacy, 
•and must in some sense refer to it. 

The giving of the saints into the hands of the papacy was 
the investiture of the popes with universal jurisdiction, over- 
sight and dominion over the church. Clothing them with 
such power was most literally and effectually giving the saints 
into their hand. Let us inquire, then, when this occurred. 

History presents two dates, at which different interpreters 
have thought they could trace the act which gave the saints 
into the hands of the papacy. The one is the year 533 or 
534, when the Emperor Justinian gave the pope precedence 
of all his episcopal brethren; the other is the year 606, 
when the Emperor Phocas declared the pope head of all the 
churches, and sole universal bishop. Newton has mentioned 
other dates, such as the years 727, when the pope and the 
Romans finally broke their connection with the Eastern em- 
peror; 755, when the pope obtained the exarchate of Ra- 
venna; 774, when he acquired the kingdom of Lombardy; 
and 787, when the worship of images was first established, 
and the pope's supremacy endorsed by the second Council of 
Nice. But neither of these dates mentioned by Newton an- 
swers to the case before us; and Newton himself does not 
venture to say upon which of them we are to rely. And the 
earlier date which goes back to the time of Justinian seems 
equally inadequate to answer to that for which we are inquir- 
ing. The truth is, that the papal power was not the product 
of a single day or year. It grew. But the great and effective 
act which made the pope lord of Christendom, and thus 
gave the saints into his hand, was the decree of Phocas in 
A.D. 606. It is to this date that the great mass of the most 
accredited interpreters refer us in connection with this subject. 

Taking this as the date, then, when the papacy obtained its 



SUNDRY AUTHORITIES. 273 

power, and adding twelve hundred and sixty years, the given 
period of its dominancy, we are carried down to the year 1866 
or 1867 as the time when Christ shall come and the judgment 
sit, — the exact date which Bowen and others have hit upon 
by an entirely different process. 

The authorities sustaining this computation are very nu- 
merous, and include some of the weightiest of names. I will 
refer to a few. 

Baronius, in his ecclesiastical annals, and other Romish 
historians, have referred to the decree of Phocas in 606, as 
the first effective official acknowledgment of the pope's supre- 
macy. Mosheim says, " The most learned writers, and those 
who are most remarkable for their knowledge of antiquity, are 
generally agreed that Boniface III. engaged Phocas, that 
abominable tyrant, to take from the bishop of Constantinople 
the title of oecumenical or universal bishop, and to confer it 
upon the Roman pontiff; and thus was the papal supremacy 
first introduced" 

Luther alludes to the year 606 as a notable commencing 
papal epoch. Osiander, one of his first disciples, has done 
the same. Flacius, also a pupil of Luther and Melancthon, 
represented the twelve hundred and sixty days as having com- 
menced in 606, and by consequence as running out in 1866. 

Robert Fleming, about one hundred and fifty years ago, in 
his little book on the Rise and Fall of Papacy, said, " We 
may justly reckon that the papal head took its rise from that 
remarkable year, 606, when Phocas did in a manner devolve 
the government of the West upon him, by giving him the title 
of universal bishop. From which period, if we date the twelve 
hundred and sixty years, they lead us down (as I said already) 
to the year 1866." 

David Simpson, a divine of the last century, says, " Some 
begin to reckon (the twelve ^hundred and sixty years) from 
the year 606 ; when ths proud prelate of Rome was declared 



274 THE LAST TIMES. 

universal bishop. If this be right, (and he seems to be 
strongly of that opinion,) then the Pope of Rome will be com- 
pletely destroyed about the year 1866, " and Christ of course 
come ; for the papacy is to stand till Christ comes. 

Scott, the commentator, says, " The beginning of the twelve 
hundred and sixty years must be placed subsequent to the 
four first trumpets, on the subversion of the Western empire 
in 566. This made way for the pope. He became universal 
bishop in a.d. 606." 

The learned George Stanley Faber, who examined very 
deeply into these subjects, says, "The year which I have fixed 
upon for the date of the twelve hundred and sixty years, is 
the year 606, — a year marked by so singular a combination of 
circumstances, that I know not how any other can with equal 
propriety be selected. If, then, I be right in my opinion, we 
are now removed but little more than sixty years from the 
commencement of the end of the vintage of God's wrath." 
This was written in 1805, and fixes 1866 as the time when 
things shall come to the scenes of their consummation. 

But I have not the time to multiply quotations. Chytraeus, 
Pareus, Whiston, Cogswell, Bryant, Elliott, Cumming, Junkin, 
Berg, and many more, have taken the same dates. This 
method of computing the time of the end is, therefore, not a 
mere conceit, but a thing commanding the belief of some of 
our ablest interpreters, and claiming our particular attention. 
I will only add the testimony of Luther, who, not long before 
his death, said, " I persuade myself verily that the day of 
judgment will not remain absent full three hundred years 
more;" according to which we are now living in the very 
period of the judgment. I would not be understood as hold- 
ing or teaching that Christ will certainly come in three years 
from the present time. I do not feel authorized to fix upon 
any one specific date for that great event. But here we have 
two distinct and independent processes, sustained by the best 



THE SEVEN VIALS. 275 

authorities on the subject, and both of which concur in the 
representation that the day of Christ's coming is near at hand, 
and lies within the limits of this present century. Well may 
we then take up the language of the text and say, "The 

COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH I" 

But ttere is still another method by which light may be 
thrown upon this mysterious subject. 

In the sixteenth chapter of Revelation we read of seven 
angels having seven vials of the wrath of God, which they 
pour out in quick succession upon the inhabitants of the 
earth. These vials are called "seven plagues,'' and evidently 
relate to "the last times." It is under the pouring out of 
the sixth vial that the coming of Christ is announced. And 
if we can identify the fulfillment of these plagues, and ascer- 
tain under which of them we are now living, we may form 
some idea of our probable nearness to the time of the Savior's 
coming. Let us then enter upon this inquiry. 

" And the first (angel) went and poured out his vial upon 
the earth ; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon 
the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them 
which worshipped his image." 

This, and what follows in the 'vision, is of course symbolic, 
and is to be interpreted by the laws which apply to symbolic 
language. " The land or earth, when distinguished from the 
sea, rivers, fountains and heaven, denotes the population of 
an empire under a settled government. The ulcer denotes an 
analogous disease of the mind, a restlessness and rancor of 
passion exasperated by agitating and noxious principles and 
opinions, that fill it with a sense of obstruction, degradation 
and misery, resembling the torture of an ulcerated body." 
Accordingly, the best interpreters apply this vial to the first 
or incipient stages of the French Revolution. As Lord 
remarks, "No symbol can be conceived more suited to repre- 
sent the restlessness under injury, the ardor of resentmont, 



276 THE LAST TIMES. 

hate and revenge, the noxiousness and contagion of false 
principles and opinions, that marked the commencement of 
the political disquiets and agitations of the European states 
toward the close of the last century. „ . . Fiance received its 
first and largest tempest. But the angel, scattering a shower 
on Belgium, Holland and the Valley of the Rhine, crossed 
the Alps, steeping heights and recesses in the bitter flood, 
drenched the vales and plains of Italy, swept around over the 
German empire and the British isles, and finally dashed the 
vengeful dregs on the peninsula of Portugal and Spain and 
the distant southern shores of this continent." 

"And the second poured out his vial upon the sea, and it 
became as the blood of a dead man ; and every living thing 
died in the sea." 

" This denotes the second great act in the tragedy of the 
French Revolution, in which the people slaughtered one an- 
other in feuds, insurrections and civil wars, and extermi- 
nated with the dagger, the bayonet and the guillotine, all the 
influential ranks, — king, queen, nobles, prelates, civil magis- 
trates, priests, military commanders, soldiers, persons of illus- 
trious descent, of distinguished reputation, of talents, of wealth, 
and demagogues, political chiefs, who rose to conspicuity and 
influence by their acts as revolutionists." Every living soul 
in any way distinguished died in the sea of deadly blood ! So 
Lord, Faber and Cunninghame understand this vial. 

"And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers 
and fountains of waters; and they became blood." 

" This symbol denotes the vast bloodshed in other Apoca- 
lyptical kingdoms in the insurrections and wars which sprung 
out of the French Bevolution. It commenced in Austria in 
1792, and soon extended to Holland, Sardinia, Russia, Italy, 
Spain, England, Prussia, Switzerland, Denmark and Portugal, 
and continued with little intermission for more than twenty 
years, in which the blood of millions of the French was 



FOURTH AND FIFTH VIALS. 277 

poured out on the soil of other kingdoms, millions of other 
nations in resisting their aggressions, and vast multitudes of 
both sexes put to death in the violence of revolution, the 
siege and sack of cities and the repression of insurrections." 
Lord, Faber, Cunninghame, Keith and Elliott. 

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial on the sun; 
and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And 
men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name 
of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they re- 
pented not to give him glory." 

The sun, in the language of symbols, denotes the civil 
power, or those who exercise government in a kingdom or 
state. This plague is accordingly interpreted of those oppres- 
sions and spoliations which resulted from previous wars and 
troubles, and with which the revolutionary rulers of France 
and contemporary authorities of other countries scorched and 
devoured their subjects. Alison says that a war of plunder, 
confiscation and slaughter was waged against the rich from 
mere envy and avarice, and thousands of families were re- 
duced from affluence to beggary. Time would fail for an 
enumeration of the distresses inflicted by the mad worship- 
pers of reason and liberty, and even by Napoleon himself. 
History hardly contains a parallel to those times of wo. And 
yet the people repented not of their sins. — Lord, Faber, Cun- 
ninghame, Keith, and others. 

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial on the seat of the 
beast ; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they 
gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of 
heaven, because of their pains and sores, and repented not 
of their deeds." 

This plague is so much like the first that it can only be 
applied to similar revolutionary scenes, in which thrones are 
made to totter, their power obscured and kingdoms thrown into 
confusion and distress. The mention of the sores and pains 

24 



278 THE LAST TIMES. 

of the first vial shows that these plagues overlap and run 
through each other, and that they have respect, at least for 
the most part, to the same people. The wild beast is the civil 
power of the ten kingdoms occupying the place of the old 
Koman empire. The pouring of the vial on the seat of the 
beast shows the troubles with which their authority should be 
assailed, and the extreme peril to which their power should be 
subjected. And to what could all this more forcibly apply 
than to those scenes of revolution which, in 1848, jostled 
every throne and threatened the utter destruction of every 
government in Europe ? Look back and think over that 
year of wonders. Consider how the spirit of liberty, poisoned 
and fouled by many sad commixtures, rose up to shake and 
darken the world. Convulsion rushed upon the heels of con- 
vulsion, until it became difficult to keep pace with the swift 
shiftings of the fearful diorama. The first cry came from the 
sunny plains of Lombardy. The Milanese were in open rebel- 
lion. Sicily next felt the mighty movement. The imbecile 
and cruel Bourbon King of Naples stood powerless before his 
indignant subjects. The Dukes of Tuscany, Parma and 
Modena beheld themselves suddenly shorn of their old au- 
thority. Paris saw another revolution, and the dynasty of 
Orleans went down forever. Stern and formal Germany 
rocked from one extremity to the other. The throne of the 
great Frederick seemed to turn to ashes before the driving 
wind. The imperial crown fell from the old master of Austria 
before the brave Magyar, and its wearer driven as a fugitive 
to the mountains of the Tyrol. Rome shook from centre to 
circumference, and threw off in horror that pontiff who claims 
to be the vicar of Christ and the lord of all Christendom. Eng- 
land herself was filled with uneasiness, not knowing at what 
moment her proud fabric might lie level with the dust. 
Every thing was tossed hither and thither with the black 
storms of revolutionary fury The vial of the wrath of God 



THE SIXTH VIAL. 279 

was poured out upon the seat of the beast, and threatened 
the whole system of European politics with utter destruction. 

But the tide soon turned. The time for the end had not 
yet come. Despotism and tyranny have since entrenched 
themselves in their former seats in redoubled strength. And 
disappointed hope lies festering in the bosoms of subdued or 
exiled revolutionists, whilst they gnaw their tongues in the 
pains of un vented ire and blaspheme God for their sores and 
want of success. The fifth vial, then, has been entirely and 
but recently fulfilled. 

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great 
river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that 
the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." 

Numerous expositors apply this to the Turkish empire, and 
the gradual disappearance of that persecuting power. If this 
be true, the prophecy is most rapidly fulfilling. Isaac Taylor 
says, " Mahometan empire is decrepit, Mahometan faith is 
decrepit; and both are ready to vanish away." Lamartine 
says, " Turkey is perishing for want of Turks." Lieutenant 
Lynch, from what he saw there, says, "The dispassionate ob- 
server can already predict the downfall of the Ottoman em- 
pire. The handwriting is on the wall, and it needs not a 
Daniel to interpret it." Cumming has collected a great 
number of most remarkable testimonies to the same effect. 

But it seems to me that this is not the correct application 
of this prophecy. The river here mentioned is connected 
with the mystic Babylon, just as the literal Euphrates was 
related to the literal Babylon that was built upon it. The 
mystic Babylon is the combination of nationalized hierarchies 
or churches ; and the mystic Euphrates must therefore refer 
to the popular support from which these establishments 
derive their sustenance and riches, just as the literal Eu- 
phrates was the source of the supplies of the literal Babylon. 
And as ancient Babylon was destroyed by the kings of the 



280 THE LAST TIMES. 

East by diverting the Euphrates from its proper channel, so 
these state-church establishments shall be destroyed by the 
diversion and withdrawing — drying up — of their present 
supports. It is in this sense that Lorol, Winthrop and others 
understand this prophecy; and I see no reason to dissent from 
them. If this, then, be the true application of this vial, the 
evidences are before us, and increasing every day, that it is 
beginning to be fulfilled. The withdrawment of a large body 
of ministers and people from the Scotch national church, the 
extensive secessions from the Romish churches of Germany, 
the resignations of many ministers in Switzerland, are recent 
events which accord exactly with this symbol. Thousands 
upon thousands are coming out of these establishments every 
year by immigration to our own country. Thousands in 
Ireland are relinquishing the old system and embracing the 
simple gospel. In Italy and parts of Germany, the great 
mass of the population is literally infidel, and ready at any 
moment to murder every priest and to rifle every church. 
Sardinia is in arms against the ecclesiastical exactions under 
which she has suffered. In Mexico, government has turned 
its hand to seize upon the hoarded wealth of the church. 
Every day the ranks of secessionists and dissenters are growing 
and swelling in France, in Scotland, in England, in parts of 
Germany. Taxation for the support of lordly and lazy 
bishops who revel on their thousands per annum is beginning 
to grind hard upon men who cannot believe that such luxurious 
parasites are the exclusive successors of the makers of tents 
and the menders of nets. Church hierarchies and state 
religious establishments are falling into less and less repute 
every day. The waters of the Euphrates are drying up; 
they are turning from their channel, and soon shall the 
destroyers enter this den of spiritual harlotry, and great 
Babylon shall fall to rise no more. 

The first part of this vial, therefore, is fulfilling. Upon 



" SPIRITUALISM.' ' 281 

the second part I am not so confident. John says, " I saw 
three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of 
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of 
the mouth of the false prophet. For they are izveuiiara 
datjibvwv — demon-spirits, — working miracles, which go forth 
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the war of that great day of God Almighty." 

This evidently refers to some new and strangely-successful 
turn in the affairs of the kingdom of darkness. Wonders are 
to be wrought. Demons are to be the agents. The move- 
ment is to combine the elements of paganism, European poli- 
tics, and the false religion of the papists. Its effect shall be 
to marshal the powers of the world for their last conflict. 
And it is not at all improbable that we have .the beginning of 
all this in the strange, infatuating, and widely-spreading 
abomination called " spiritualism." Paul most solemnly 
assures us that " The Spirit (of God) speaketh expressly, that 
IN THE LATTER TIMES some shall depart from the faith, 
giving heed to seducing spirits, and didacxaXiaii; datfiovtaiv — 
teachings of demons — speaking lies in hypocrisy:" (1 Tim. 
iv. 1, 2.) I cannot dwell upon this now ', but I am convinced 
that a careful investigation of this system of demonism will 
show many and strong points of correspondence to what Paul 
and John have here written. It is yet in its incipiency. 
Time will reveal the truth. But enough is plain to show that 
we are now living in the period of the sixth vial. The fifth 
reached its acme eight years ago. The sixth certainly has 
begun. And it is in connection with this sixth vial that 
Jesus says, " Behold, I come."* 

My brethren, look at it, and put not the solemn truth away 
from you. Here are three wholly different and independent 
methods of ascertaining something as to the period when our 
blessed Lord shall come; and each of the three, according to 
our very best information on the subject, gives forth the 

* See Note L. mge 362. 



282 THE LAST TIMES. 

distinct and firm testimony that we are at tit is moment 
treading the very margin of the great consummation. 

There is still another method of learning when the final 
advent is near, the presentation of which I will reserve for 
another discourse. But, look in whatever direction we may, 
we shall only find the evidence thickening that the time has 
wellnigh come. 

" The tide o£ pomp 
That beats upon the high shore of this world," 

is ebbing fast. Soon shall those great solemn words be 
spoken, — "It is done!" 

" Six thousand years of sorrow have wellnigh 
Fulfilled their tardy and disastrous course 
Over a sinful world; and what remains 
Of this tempestuous state of human things 
Is merely as the working of the sea 
Before a calm that rocks itself to rest. 

The world appears 

To toll the death-bell of its own decease, 
And by the voice of all its elements 
To preach the general doom !" 

And after gathering together all the light within my reach, 
I say to you, in all seriousness and honesty, that I believe 
there are some listening to me now who will never taste of death 
till they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory. You may consider me beside 
myself if you will. You may take heed to my announcement, 
or you may despise it as folly. You may be wise, and prepare 
to meet God, or you may take the opiates of unbelief, and say, 
" No danger ! no danger I" But, in the name of that Jesus 
whom I believe to have sent me to you as his ambassador, I 
declare to you that " the coming of the Lord draweth 
nigh I" 

"What, then, is to be done ? Shall we turn aside from our 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. 283 

avocations and give ourselves up to dejection or the silly con- 
ceits of wild enthusiasts ? No, no, no. We must only stand 
the firmer to our posts. The command of Jesus is, " Occupy 
till I come." We must keep steadfastly to the duties of 
our places, and do with our might what our hands find to do, 
and work and wait, and wait as we work, until Christ shall 
3all to us from the heavens, " Well done, good and faithful 
servants; enter ye into the joy of your Lord !" He never 
meant that the promise of his coming should frig!; ten us, or 
depress us, or make us unhappy. He meant it for the comfort 
of his people in their trials, to inflame their zeal, to inspire 
their hopes, and to serve as a sort of present compensation for 
their toils and sufferings. Instead of being discomfited, then, 
as we see the time drawing near, let us rather be joyful, and 
lift up our heads, and press for the crowns that are drawing 
so close. The faithless and the impenitent may well be 
alarmed and be moved to cry for mercy ; but for those who 
have laid up their treasures in the world to come, the scenes 
at hand are full of gladness. 

The admonition of the text is, "Stablish your hearts. 17 
That is, we are to grasp firm hold of the exceeding great and 
precious promises of Jesus, and rest confidently upon God's 
sublime covenant of mercy, and make up our minds to stand 
or fall clasping the cross, and we shall be safe. We must 
settle our souls upon Him who is able to save to the uttermost, 
and give ourselves fully up to be his followers and servants, 
and he will not disown us in that great day. Though we may 
have been slumbering long upon Delilah's lap, if we will only 
rouse up and keep to our duty in Christ Jesus we shall have 
strength against all our foes and all our dangers. 

Let me exhort you, then, by the stirring solemnities of this 
theme, to be up and doing. " Awake, thou that sleepest, and 
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." If you 
have been prayerless hitherto, begin at once to call upon that 



284 THE LAST TIMES. 

Savior who has never yet despised the cry of a sincere sup- 
pliant. If you have never avowed yourself a disciple of Jesus, 
do it at once, and put yourself within the range of that prof- 
fered grace which God has declared to be sufficient for you. 
u Be not afraid ; only believe." And if you are depressed, 
burdened, or cast down at the prospect before us, listen to the 
sweet voice of the Savior, as he tenderly says to you and to 
all, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 

LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. TAKE MY YOKE UPON 
YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, AND YE SHALL FIND REST UNTO 
YOUR SOULS." 

WAKE! AWAKE! 

Wake ! awake ! the call is flying, 

From watchmen on the ramparts crying, 

Awake ! awake ! Jerusalem ! 
While the midnight is prevailing, 
These voices clear all souls are hailing: 
Virgins, where are ye, virgins pui-e ? 
The* Bridegroom comes ! awake ! 
The wise their torches take ! 
Halleltjia ! 
Haste to prepare 
The feast to share ; 
The time has come to meet him there ! 

Zion hears the watchmen singing, 
Their hearts with joy and rapture springing. 
She wakes, she houndeth from her gloom. 
Comes her friend from heaven all-glorious, 
In grace, how strong ! in truth victorious ; 
Her Star ascends, her Light is come! 
Appear, thou crowned One, 
Jesus, God's only Son ! 

Save us, Lord ! 
We follow thee 
Till heaven we see, 
And at thy banquet sup with thee. 

Philip Nikolai, 1597. 



TWELFTH DISCOURSE. 

RECAPITULATION FOURTH METHOD OF ASCERTAINING WHEN CHRIST 

SHALL COME, OR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES THE SENTIMENTS OF 

DISTINGUISHED MEN RESPECTING THE NEARNESS OF THE END — THE 
INTENSE DESIRARLENESS OF THE SAVIOR'S COMING — CONCLUSION. 



Luke xxi. 28 : And when these things begin to come to pass, then 
look up, and lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth 
nigh. 

It is now three months since I commenced discoursing to 
you upon the holy prophecies concerning " The Last Times/' 
And though I have announced this as my last discourse in 
this series, I find that I have not uttered the half that I 
originally contemplated. I have presented only some frag- 
ments of the grand system of God's purposes, as I think I 
see it revealed in his holy word. I regret that I have not 
been able to say more and to say it better. Nevertheless, 
under the divine blessing, what I have said may not be 
in vain. It may serve to set you upon trains of thought and 
investigation, and thus conduct you to a knowledge of what is 
coming on the earth, which perhaps you would not other- 
wise have reached. I thank God that he has preserved my 
life and health to pursue these studies thus far, and that so 
many have given me their serious attention, notwithstanding 
the obstacles interposed by a winter of unwonted severity. 
The pleasure and profit which these efforts have given me 
more than repay for the toils they have cost, whilst I have the 
further comfort of knowing that they have been blest to the 

285 



286 THE LAST TIMES. 

good of immortal souls. Prophecy was "written for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the 
Scriptures might have hope j" and in fulfillment of this end 
have I thus been engaged upon it. I preach for no other 
purpose than to render you wiser, better and happier. I 
stand here only to help you to become more heavenly in 
your thoughts, more angelic in your affections and more 
Christ-like in your character. And if ever I should lose sight 
of this great aim of my office, I should fear that my tongue 
would cleave to the roof of my mouth. 

It is, perhaps, the greatest failing of the Christians of this 
generation that they are too speculative and imitative in their 
religion. We are too easily satisfied with floating notions of 
what the Scriptures teach, without searching and verifying 
for ourselves. We are too prone to think it enough to 
comply with popular religious customs, and to assent indefi- 
nitely to the belief current among those around us. We do 
not draw our ideas and our hopes with sufficient directness 
from the fountains of truth, nor bring the teaching of reve- 
lation home to our hearts with the proper practical earnest- 
ness. We are orthodox enough, but too undevout. We 
assent to the revealments of God, but we do not drink them 
in, and imbed them in our souls, and wrap them up in the 
warm embrace of our affections, as we should. Dr. Chalmers 
once said, " I have all my life viewed the truths of Christianity 
too much in the way of speculation, and as if at a distance. I 
have not closed with them ; I have not laid hold of them ; I 
have not apprehended them. I have been persuaded of the 
truth of the promises, but not embraced them. With the 
exception of an occasional gleam of light and comfort from 
the freeness of the gospel, I have had no steady, habitual, 
personal sense of that freeness. I have abundantly ac- 
knowledged it, but have not used it." 

This is a sad confession, and a statement too true of many 



LUKEWARMNESS OF MODERN CHRISTIANS. 287 

modern Christians even of the more reputable sort. What 
we need is a new baptism in the faith which appreciates the 
power of divine truth and sees and feels its reality. We 
need some spiritual solvent to reduce our knowledge to wis- 
dom and our intellectual assent to a hearty consent. We 
need a more vivid and abiding apprehension of what Glod Lath 
said, that we may live more in and upon his word. Nor is 
this anywhere more needed than upon the thrilling themes we 
have been considering. Though there is not a doctrine of our 
holy Christianity more largely treated in the Scriptures, more 
definitely asserted in all the creeds, more touchingly celebrated 
in our sacred songs, or more constantly acknowledged in our 
Bermons and our prayers, than the coming again of Christ; 
yet there is hardly another article of faith so coldly, remotely, 
indefinitely and fruitlessly apprehended. Though it involves 
all our sublimest hopes, and is the basis of our most precious 
expectations, how few ever advert to it as a reality, or have 
any clear conceptions of it ! Though it is the culmination of 
human hope and destiny, to how many is it a mere dead letter, 
awakening no emotion, exciting no concern and making 
no impression ! Though nobody disputes it, yet who feels it 
or lays hold of it as a literal truth ? As a vital thing, it has 
wellnigh dropped out of the creed. Its practical influences 
upon men's hearts and lives have become so feeble as to be 
almost imperceptible. When Christianity was pure, this doc- 
trine was among the most vivifying of the faith. Men be- 
lieved it, and it quenched the fear of death and made martyr- 
dom a thing to be coveted ; but now it stands upon our books 
like a superannuated fable. Then it beamed forth a light and 
life which lifted the soul up in sublime and joyous anticipa- 
tions; but now it has become like the mute letters in the 
spelling of certain words, which, for all practical purposes, 
might as well be omitted as retained. These are deplorable 
i-ict-. They speak badly for our experience in divine things, 



288 THE LAST TIMES. 

and tell a mournful tale for modern Christianity. Who, then, 
can mistake the plain duty of a faithful minister in such a case ? 
The subject is too momentous to be trifled with. Our respon- 
sibilities are too solemn for us to be unconcerned. Hence, in 
much weakness, but with honesty of purpose, I have endea- 
vored to raise my voice in serious warning, and made it my 
studied aim to give no "uncertain sound." Firmly believing 
that " He that shall come will come, and will not tarry," I 
have labored hard to advise you of his approach, and to have 
you wide awake, that that day may not overtake you unawares. 

I have accordingly gone back to the original fountains of 
information upon the subject. I have tried to show where 
and how it is presented in the Scriptures. I have called your 
attention especially to Christ's own great predictions respecting 
it, and endeavored to brush away some of the cobwebs of a 
perverted erudition with which modern commentation has 
obscured and defaced it, and shown that the Savior means 
exactly what he says. 

I have proven to you, in the second place, that Christ's 
coming is not to be a thousand years hence, at the end of a 
fancied millennium of universal righteousness, liberty and 
peace; that sin, oppression and antichristianism shall prevail 
in the world until he comes; and that only his personal 
presence and administrations on earth will make the mil- 
lennium, or impart to this lower creation the redemption for 
which it sighs. 

In the third place, I showed that the prevailing notion that 
when Christ comes it will be to depopulate, destroy and anni- 
hilate the earth, is the mere dream of poets, without founda- 
tion in the word of Grod. This earth shall endure forever, 
and in the light of its sister worlds roll on to all eternity. It 
will be changed in its fashion, but not destroyed. It will be 
renovated, but not depopulated. It will be restored, not anni- 
hilated. It will yet be the bright dwelling-place of righteous- 



RECAPITULATION. 289 

ness and peace. The will of God shall yet be done here as it 
is in heaven. It will be the perpetual home of a saintly 
population reflecting the glory of its Maker and rejoicing 
forever in his smiles. All that is vile in principle or impure 
in effect will be purged away; but its firm substance, its 
splendid scenery, and its impressive images of the Creator's 
power and the Kedeemer's love, shall never end. After Christ 
shall come and set up his throne here, as Chalmers says, 
"There will be a firm earth, as we have at present, and a 
heaven stretched over it, as at present; and it is not by the 
absence of these, but the absence of sin, that the abodes of 
immortality will be characterized. There will be both heavens 
and earth in the next great administration, with only this 
specialty to mark it from the present one, that it will be a 
heavens and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 

I next explained the resurrection, showing that the resur- 
rection for which we are to aim and hope is an eclectic resur- 
rection, — a resurrectiou of them that sleep in Jesus from 
among the dead at Christ's coming, and that "the rest of the 
dead" shall not live again until the thousand years are 
finished. 

I have also exhibited the Scriptural evidences of the great 
fact that the Messiah's reign is to be in this world in a uni- 
versal and eternal kingdom of bliss and glory. 

I have endeavored to expound to you the mysterious doc- 
trine and administrations of the coming judgment: how it 
now exists, how it will be manifested at Christ's coming, and 
how it will affect the various classes concerned. 

I have unfolded to you the destiny of the Jewish race : 
their restoration, their sanctification, their blessed condition in 
the millennium, and the good that is yet to come to the world 
through them. 

I have placed before you something of the world to come, 
where Christ's sovereign and personal rule is to be revealed, — 
T 25 v 



290 THE LAST TIMES. 

that new earth, in which the entire creation shall again return 
to its pristine loveliness, and where, as Heber sings, 

" On David's throne shall David's offspring reign, 
And the dry bones be warm with life again, 
Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song, 
Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong, — 
' Worthy the Lamb ! Omnipotent to save, 
Who died, who lives, triumphant o'er the grave !'" 

I have further shown you that these are no mere dreams, 
now for the first time broached, or found only in the rhapso- 
dies of enthusiastic minds. I have proven to you that such 
were substantially the hopes of the church before Christ came 
as the child of Mary; that Jesus and his inspired apostles 
spoke of these hopes as deeply founded in the purposes and 
promises of God ; that they were entertained, preached and 
gloried in by those who received their instructions from 
apostolic lips, and by the Luthers, and Arndts, and Paleys, 
and Baxters, and Wesleys, and Halls, and Edwardses and 
Chalmerses of the first three hundred years of the Christian 
church • that no Christian ever disputed them previous to the 
time of Origen; and that they are now held and proclaimed by 
hundreds and thousands among the purest, the most eloquent, 
the most learned, and the most useful of the children of God on 
the face of the earth. How the church came to lose sight of 
these hopes I have also indicated. It was popery that obscured 
them and cast them into darkness. First came Origen's fanci- 
ful method of interpreting the Scriptures, casting uncertainty 
upon the clearest statements, and introducing a way of expo- 
sition which all men unite in lamenting and condemning. 
Then came the desire to render the Christian faith palatable 
to a Roman emperor, and then to the papal usurper, leading 
to a repudiation of a part of the Bible and the mutilation and 
interpolation of the writings of the fathers. And thus, as the 
joint work of Origen's vagaries and the sycophantic spirit 



RECAPITULATION- 291 

and corrupt principles of some who came after him, a disposi- 
tion was made of these great anticipations from which every 
good man should recoil with horror. It was a stroke of Satan 
to cheat the Bride of Jesus out of her sublimest dowry. To 
this day the church is more or less under the influence of that 
deception. Nor can we do duty to ourselves or to the truth 
of God, and yet patiently acquiesce in a decision brought 
about in a way so unchristian and unwarrantable. Nay, I feel 
confident that when once we have fairly examined this whole 
matter, the pure millenarian doctrine will be held and 
preached as one of the most glorious articles of our most holy 
faith. 

But I have gone further than all this. I have not only 
maintained that Christ will come again to this world to judge, 
subdue, renovate and reign in it forever, but that he will 
come very soon. I have ventured to proclaim my fixed belief 
that his coming is near at hand. I do not know the day or 
the year ; but I have shown you, as I think, that Grod does not 
mean that we should remain in total ignorance of the period 
of his coming. In every other great event that he has 
brought about in human affairs, he has given pre-intimations 
of the time when it would be; and we cannot suppose that 
the time of the great consummating event of all is shrouded 
in such perfect secrecy as that we can know nothing till it 
comes. We accordingly find various dates and signs described 
in the Scriptures, from which we may learn enough to prevent 
our being surprised by it. 

In my last I gave three different methods by which light 
may be thrown upon this subject. First, the Scriptures fur- 
nish a system of septenaries, or sevens, from which we learn 
that Christ will come at the end of six thousand years from 
the creation of man; which period, according to our best 
information, will run out within the next twenty or forty 
years. We next find the duration of the papal dominancy, 



292 THE LAST TIMES. 

which is to be destroyed only when Christ comes, limited to 
twelve hundred and sixty years, which term must needs 
expire within ten or twenty years from the present date. In 
the third place, we find a description of the seven last plagues, 
in connection with the sixth of which Christ's coming is 
announced, and all of which up to the sixth have clearly been 
fulfilled, whilst we are now entering upon the sixth. These 
three processes of computation, independent but harmonious, 
unconnected yet mutually corroborative, are sufficient to prove 
to us that we are treading close upon the time when all God's 
purposes shall be fulfilled. 

There is, however, still another method of gaining informa- 
tion upon this point, to which I will direct your attention. 
The Scriptures very minutely describe certain signs which are 
to precede the final advent, and direct us to look for those 
signs, and assure us that "when these things begin to eome to 
pass" we may know that the great event is near, even at the 
door. Let us then trace some of these signs, and look to see 
whether they have as yet appeared or not. 

1. The Scriptures very distinctly tell us that the period of 
Christ's coming shall be a period of abounding apostasy, skep- 
ticism and wickedness. I need not again repeat the passages 
on this point. "As the days of Noe were, so shall it be also 
in the days of the Son of man/' As Milton says, "the first 
peculiar sign (of the second advent) is an extreme reckless- 
ness and impiety, and an almost universal apostasy." And 
what a distressing agreement to this do we find in the charac- 
teristics of the present times! Look at Christendom itself. 
About one-half of those who profess and call themselves 
Christians are wrapped up in the foul embrace of Popery, 
where it is the fashion, if not the law, to put aside the Scrip- 
tures as dangerous, to trust to the word of the priest for for- 
giveness, to pray to Mary as the great intercessor, to adore the 
pope as the vicegerent of God, to hold for doctrines the -mere 



PRESENT DEPRAVITY OF THE WORLD. 293 

commandments of men, and to look for admission into heaven 
through human works. The millions in the Greek and Ori- 
ental churches are scarcely any better in regard to what con- 
cerns the vital matters of evangelical godliness. Look even 
at Protestantism, — how fearfully corrupt in some of • its 
branches ! How divided and torn by the low bickerings of 
sect and schism ! What vast numbers are in our churches as 
well as in papal churches who are nothing more than baptized 
infidels ! How many who commune at our altars are not half 
persuaded of the truth of the professions which they make ! 
Look at the moral and religious condition of the nations at 
large, even those the most enlightened and Christian. See 
how crime flourishes and infidelity vaunts itself. What are 
our secular newspapers but registers of depravity, avarice, am- 
bition, lawlessness and sin ? See the inefficiency of law or 
gospel to restrain the violence of passion, or to keep under the 
brazen iniquity which rears its head aloft on every side. Be- 
hold your crowded infidel clubs, your besotted revolutionary 
combinations, and your hardened and daring propagandists of 
falsehood, treason and all forms of social disruption. See with 
what popular favor the basest of men set themselves up as 
God's oracles, claiming inspiration from heaven whilst preach- 
ing death to the church and to the state, and listened to 
with admiration by thousands who still wish to be considered 
virtuous and even Christian. See with what readiness people 
reputed intelligent take up with the lowest delusions, and stand 
forth as the abettors and defenders of some of the foulest 
emissions of hell. Behold how even great men, professed 
theologians, editors, professors, lecturers and men in high 
places of influence, adopt, advocate and preach theories of 
pretended science and philosophy which unsettle the very 
foundations of piety and faith. What contempt for Chris- 
tianity, and disrespect for its ministers, and callousness to its 

great truths, do we everywhere encounter h And may we not 

25* 



294 THE LAST TIMES. 

conclude, with the great Luther, that " God will not, cannot, 
Buffer this wicked world much longer V 

2. Another sign of the Savior's coming is to be found in 
great revolutionary troubles, political perplexities and vast 
national agitations. The Savior himself, and all the prophets, 
have taught us this. And never have the universal political 
heavens been so shaken as in our day. When were human 
politics so confused, contradictory, perplexing and threatening 
as now ? Look at them from one end of the world to the 
other. Who among the great ones of the earth can tell where 
he stands ? Behold the strange alliances, the deep, sudden 
and mysterious antipathies, the unforeseen combinations of 
events, and the unknown tendencies of mighty inscrutable 
movements, which have been manifesting themselves all over 
the world in these last days. Who can tell what shall be 
next? If it is war, who knows where it will end? If it is 
peace, who is sure that it will not prove as disastrous as war ? 
In either case, mighty dangers everywhere threaten. Democ- 
racy, republicanism, autocracy and military despotism have 
about equal chances; and neither has any rational hope. As 
things now are, no conceivable human arrangements can steer 
clear of the mighty maelstrom which seems to have drawn 
all the nations within the circle of its awful whirl. Men of 
wisdom, men of Ahithophel astuteness, are at their wits' end, 
and the prudent and the far-sighted are growing wild with 
amazement and fear. With all that can be done, things refuse 
to bend to any mortal control. The ship answers no more to 
the helm. There is not a government on earth that is not 
quaking with commotion. Every thing is moving, but whi- 
ther politicians cannot tell. 

3. A third sign of the nearness of the end is a stir and 
inquiry among many respecting the subject, leading to the 
conviction that Christ is at hand. This is set forth in two 
passages, the one in Daniel, the other in the Lord's prophecy 



THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY AWAKENING. 295 

in the twenty-fifth of Matthew. The passage in Daniel is, 
" Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the 
time of the end ; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge 
shall be increased" That is, in the period of the end, as 
Michaelis interprets, " many shall give their sedulous atten- 
tion to the understanding of these things ;" or, according to 
a marginal note in an old English Bible, " many shall run to 
and fro to search the knowledge of these mysteries." Dr. 
Grill thus explains the passage : — " Towards the time of the 
end appointed, many shall be stirred up to inquire into these 
things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost 
to get a knowledge of them ; and, with the blessing of God 
upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be 
increased, things will appear clearer and plainer the nearer 
the accomplishment of them." Luther's rendering of it is as 
follows : — " And now, Daniel, shut up these words, and seal 
this book, until the last times j when many shall come over 
it, and find great understanding." Coke, Clarke, Henry and 
Duffield understand the passage in the same way. It is about 
equivalent to that other declaration in the same chapter and 
concerning the same period of the end, — "The wise shall un- 
derstand." And as the result of all this inquiry and enlight- 
enment on the subject of prophecy, the Savior tells us that 
" then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten vir- 
gins which went out to meet the bridegroom, and there was a 
cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet 
him" 

And how evidently and significantly has this mark of the 
end been manifesting itself within the last fifty years ! Though 
the multitude still turn from prophecy as from a sealed book, 
yet what a stir, anxiety and study has it awakened in many 
earnest minds ! I have counted more than one hundred 
authors who have written and published nearly twice as many 
volumes on the subjects of unfulfilled prophecies since the 



29b THE LAST TIMES. 

present century began, and most of whom have advocated and 
proclaimed substantially the same views presented in these 
discourses. Many of them differ with each other ; but they 
differ mostly as the clocks of the same city, — only in minutes, 
not in hours. Their leading conclusions are the same. In 
every denomination, and in every Christian country, the sub- 
ject is being studied and agitated. Everywhere there are 
men of God proclaiming the great doctrine of Christ's speedy 
coming to reign with his saints upon the earth. In England, 
in Scotland, in France, in our own country, in Germany, in 
Norway, in Kussia, in India, in the isles of the sea, the cry 
has been raised, " Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go 
ye out to meet him I" Never, never, since the days of 
the early Christians, has there been so much earnest long- 
ing, expecting, preaching, believing and praying upon the 
subject of the nearness of Christ's coming. The interest, the 
study and the faith are by no means as general as they 
should be, but general and intense, enlightened and earnest 
enough to warrant us in saying that this sign of the end has 
appeared. 

4. Another indication to which the Scriptures refer upon 
this subject is the general shaking and crumbling of social 
order. " In the last days perilous times shall come." There 
shall be " dreamers who despise dominion, and speak evil of 
dignities, and of those things which they know not." God 
says, " I will shake all nations, and the Desire of nations shall 
come." " Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also 
heaven." "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he 
come whose right it is; and I will give it him." 

And how manifestly are these signs fulfilling ! "What is 
now the leading watchword that is convulsing the whole earth 
from the equator to the poles ? Reform, reform, reform I 
The church must be reformed; government must be reformed; 
every thing must be reformed. Nothing is any longer right 



THE PASSION FOR REFORM 297 

or adequate for dotard humanity. Laws, creeds, politics, the- 
ology, worship, venerable customs, all are found fault with by 
the restless spirit that is abroad, and must be revised, changed, 
recast, and reconstructed on other models which cannot be 
agreed upon. The fathers of old have become mere infants ; 
the intellectual giants of other times have dwindled into 
dwarfs ; the great emancipators of the world have degenerated 
into dreaming schoolboys, who knew nothing of humanity's 
wants, and never comprehended the will of G-od or the good 
of man. Suddenly it has been discovered that our domestic 
institutions are wrong, that our marriage-laws are wrong, that 
our entire legislation is wrong, that the wisest cabinets are 
composed of fools, that our church arrangements are imbecile, 
that old-fashioned religion is mere hypocrisy and cant, and 
that whatever is, is wrong. Protestantism must needs have a 
new foundation, and men are tinkering to effect it. Catholi- 
cism must have an addition to its creed, and a special conven- 
tion was just called to inaugurate the miserable absurdity. 
And we must have new recensions, and new liturgies, and new 
interpretations, and new distributions of powers in church 
and state, and even new gospels, until every thing rocks and 
totters in the throes of approaching dissolution. Young 
America, and young England, and young France, and young 
Italy, and young China, and the ruling spirit even where 
things have been stagnant for ages, now cry, "Down with 
the world's old props ! Down with the rickety regime of other 
days V And everybody is in the intensest earnest. As Car- 
lyle says, " The age of shams is past." Ever} sect, party, 
clique, club and faction, and every individual man, seems to 
be determined that his own way shall carry. There is no 
yielding, no compromise, no ear open to the counselings of 
moderation or entreaty. All is being unsettled, canvassed, 
distracted and rendered impotent, except in that direction in 
which the wave may for the moment dash. Never before 



298 THE LAST TIMES. 

were such mighty conflicting forces at work in our world. 
Never before has there been such a deep and universal agita- 
tion upon all that respects the interests of man. Govern- 
ments the most powerful, ideas the most potent and customs 
the most firmly rooted are becoming mere playthings in the 
hands of remorseless and determined revolution. Surely the 
signal for the end has come. This loud cry from every quar- 
ter for reform, change and something new, only proves that 
"society is sick" and nearing its dissolution, and yet, like 
the sick man, imagines that if its bed were changed it would 
be well. Alas, alas, for the projects and dreamy hopes of 
modern reformers ! 

"The world is grown old, and her pleasures are past; 
The world is grown old, and her form may not last; 
The world is grown old, and trembles for fear, — 
For sorrows abound, and judgment is near ! 
The sun in the heavens is languid and pale, 
And feeble and few are the fruits of the vale, 
And the hearts of the nations fail them for fear, — 
For the world is grown old, and judgment is near! 
The king on his throne, the bride in her bower, 
The children of pleasure, all feel the sad hour; 
The roses are faded, and tasteless the cheer, — 
The world is grown old, and JUDGMENT IS NEAR !" 

Only look abroad, my brethren, and see how thrones, 
powers, governments, superstitions, and all the old stabilities, 
are creaking, shaking, crumbling, dying. Behold how vain 
the help of man is. Consider how implacable is human dis- 
satisfaction. Mark how the mind of the world is expecting 
some great, speedy, mysterious change, such as has never yet 
been. And is it not certain that — 

"the old 
And crazy earth has had her shaking fits 
More frequent, and foregone her usual rest, 
And nature seems with dim and sickly eye 
To wait the close of all" ? 



DARKNESS BEFORE LIGHT. 299 

I have read somewhere, in a very sagacious writer, that when 
happy changes are contemplated most people erroneously turn 
to the quarters of light for the signs of its approach. This 
has ever been man's mistake when looking for the fulfillment 
of God's great purposes, and is the mistake of many now. 
People are looking for the setting up of Christ's kingdom, and 
the introduction of millennial glory by reforming and rebap- 
tizing present modes of effort and thought. But so it will not 
be. God's method of progress is to make darkness the way 
to light, death the prelude to life, despair the introduction to 
salvation, and corruption and confusion the road to order and 
glory. It is not in what seems hopeful, but in what seems 
gloomy and untoward, that we are to look for the signs of the 
speedy forthcoming of God's wonder-working goodness. It is 
the stirring upon the face of the dark waters that gives prog- 
nostic of the breaking forth of light, life and beauty. The 
bursting glories of spring come directly out of the bleak winter. 
It is from the corrupting seed that we obtain the harvest. 
The darkest hour is said to be that which immediately precedes 
the day. The period most hopeful is that when the apparent 
motives for despondency are most overwhelming. The stress 
of the controversy between hope and fear always falls upon the 
eve of triumph. Those dim hours of dismay to the scattered 
followers of Christ at his crucifixion were but the preludes to 
the bringing in of light and immortality for man. The 
bloody persecutions under the Roman emperors which threat- 
ened the extinction of Christianity were the immediate pre- 
cursors of its victory over even the throne of the Csesars. 
And so the Scriptures teach that it will be in the ushering in 
of the great consummation. The sun must darken and the 
moon withhold her light, and then shall the Sun of righteous- 
ness arise with healing in his wings. 

People think they see signs of promise in the movements of 
reform. They think to give the church a better shape, and 



300 THE LAST TIMES. 

the state a better government, and the world a freer Bible, and 
that thus the millennium will come. I have no confidence in 
any such hopes. I see more of promise in the darkest fea- 
tures of the times than in all these pious and patriotic dreams. 
I look around me, and find men uniting, oft unconsciously, in 
pronouncing past experiments inadequate to accomplish what 
was expected of them. Once it was thought that Protestant- 
ism would soon regenerate the world; and yet so little pro- 
gress has it made in two hundred years that some of its own 
distinguished children, in every department of it, are pro- 
claiming in many ways that it will not do without mending. 
Some thought that the great Bible, Tract, Sunday-school and 
missionary movements would soon win the nations to faith in 
Jesus; and yet the world is perhaps more wicked now than it 
has been since Noah's flood. Skeptics in the church, and 
skeptics out of the church, are rising up to pronounce all our 
boasted efforts a failure. Many are losing confidence in the 
Bible and that simple evangelism in which they hoped, and 
are going back to Rome, to unbelief, to "spiritualism," or to 
some other low ism of natural or Satanic religion. I deplore 
the facts, and mourn that people should have so little faith, 
and reason so illogically. And yet in this very darkness I read 
the promise of coming light. In this very misgiving, despera- 
tion and gloom, I see the argument for the speedy springing 
forth of glorious and unfading hopes, not as human reason 
calculates, but as God purposes. I behold in it the rapid 
winding up of the present dispensation to give place to that 
better state of things of which the prophets all have spoken. 
Statesmen and churchmen see in it the unmistakable evidences 
of unprecedented changes, though they widely differ as to 
what those changes are to be. I go to the "sure word of pro- 
phecy," and there I find the mystery explained. That holy 
book which is the world's great light on sc many important 
things does not fail me here. 



OPINIONS OF EMINENT WRITERS. 301 

Sir Robert Peel has said, "Every aspect of the present 
times, viewed in the light of the past, warrants the belief that 
we are on the eve of a universal change." Dr. Arnold, in his 
Lectures on History, says, " Modern history appears to be not 
only a step in advance of ancient history, but the last step; it ap- 
pears to bear marks of the fullness of time, as if there would be 
no future history beyond it. . . . We have the full amount of 
earth's resources before us, and they seem inadequate to supply 
life for another period of human history.' 7 Professor Robin- 
son says, "Before another half-century shall have rolled away, 
there will be seen revolutions in the Oriental mind, and the 
world, of which no one now has any foreboding. The time is 
short: the crisis rushes on." The London Quarterly says, 
"The long pent-up winds are beginning to break loose; and 
the sudden bursts of tempest that have swept over Europe 
these few years past are precursors of the world's last desolat- 
ing storm." Bishop Chase asks, "Are not these signs and 
prognostics of the speedy coming of our Lord to judgment ?" 
And when I look at all these things : — the six thousand years 
nearing their close; the period of Popery's dominancy ex- 
piring; the sixth vial pouring out; the earth exhibiting all 
the features that are to characterize the last days; the nations 
distressed and their leaders tremulous with fear ; history closing 
up; all the old landmarks of society invaded and simulta- 
neously giving way more or less before resistless innovation; 
the predicted cry, Behold, he cometh, ringing through every 
land; the whole world becoming like a magazine, where a 
single spark may produce a universal explosion that must 
carry all existing things to desolation; our great men, and 
devout men, and nearly all thinking men, proclaiming the pre- 
sence of some unknown change; and the book of Grod, which 
I have taken as my guide, telling me that when these things 
begin to come to pass my Savior and his kingdom are at hand : 

— would I not deserve to be classed with infidels and scoffers 

26 



302 THE LAST TIMES. 

if I did not beliere, and merit the condemnation of a hypo- 
critical and faithless watchman if I did not declare, that so it 
is, and that "the end of all things is at hand" ? 

That many will give neither heed nor credit to these state- 
ments, is to be expected. It was so in Noah's day. When 
Lot warned Sodom, "he seemed as one that mocked." And 
Christ and his prophets have foretold that it will be so again. 
But, if people will not examine into these things, and, as a 
consequence, are found unready when the Savior comes, they 
will have themselves to thank for their calamities. For my 
own part, I will believe and preach that the Day of the Lord 
is at hand, and would rather encounter the sneers and vulgar 
taunts of all mankind and be found ready when my Savior 
comes, than to be accounted the most sober of theologians and 
enjoy the fame of the most revered favorite of popular lauda- 
tion, and have that day find me unfaithful to my duty and 
unprepared for my change. I have been unable to fix upon 
any precise time. Some profess to know it ; I do not. Christ 
may come in three, seven, or ten years; or not so soon. A 
few developments may make the matter certain. But I wish 
to bear my distinct testimony, that I believe his coming is at 
hand, and that we ought to be ready and expecting it any 
and every day. 

Nor am I alone in these convictions. "The Lord cometh I" 
says Krummacher. "Never did the church witness such a con- 
stellation of signs of the near coming of Christ as now." That 
"ripe scholar and profound student of prophecy," Dr. Elliott, 
says, " We are come so near to the day of the Son of man, that 
the generation now living shall very possibly not have passed 
away before its fulfillment ; yea, that perhaps our own eyes may 
witness, without the intervention of death, that astonishing 
event of the consummation." Pym says, "Upon us the ends 
of the world are come ; and this generation shall witness the 
advent of the Lord in glory to introduce the millenary reign 



FURTHER CONFIRMATORY OPINIONS. 303 

of righteousness and peace." Cunninghame says, " All the 
events of our own times, — the growing disorders of the body 
politic, — the fears and expectations of men, — the deep per- 
suasion of an impending convulsion inrooted in every thinking 
mind, — the solemn and awakening declarations of Scripture, — 
the clear and unequivocal voice of prophecy, — every sign, 
every promise, every testimony, — unite in announcing his 
(Christ's) approach." Habershon says, "The time undoubt- 
edly is near at hand when the redemption of the body shall 
be experienced, and when these bodies of our humiliation shall 
be fashioned like unto his glorious body." "It is reasonable 
to conclude," says Faber, "that the time is not very far dis- 
tant when the personal Word shall begin to tread the wine- 
press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Cum- 
ming says, " We are led from all signs to infer that the meet- 
ing-place of all the lines of God's providential work on earth 
is very near. . . . It is very remarkable that all the great times 
and dates ef prophecy meet and mingle about the year 1864- 
6. ... I do feel, that if that be not the close of the age that 
now is, and the commencement of a better one, it will be a time 
unprecedented since the beginning." Brooks says, " The signs 
of the second advent in the state of the world at large are 
such as to impress my own mind with a deep persuasion that 
we are on the eve of events of immense — immense importance 
to mankind." "From whatever dates we reckon," says Bick- 
ersteth, "we cannot but consider that the time of the end is 
drawing near, and that awful events of judgment and mercy 
are before us." "The happy hour is not far hence," says 
Taylor. "It is near, and hasteth greatly. . . . This generation 
and century will witness his glorious epiphany!" "Almost 
all writers on prophecy," says Cox, "who have studied its 
mystic numbers, make them terminate at periods towards 
which we are rapidly approaching. However different these 
.views and schemes, they agree in this, that within a few 



304 THE LAST TIMES. 

years from the present time some of the greatest events ever 
witnessed will take place." I might give many more such 
statements. 

Let it not be said that these are fanatic ravings, or loose 
vociferations of ignorant people. They are the deliberately- 
formed conclusions of our most competent, most pious, and 
most profound investigators of God's holy revelations. Men 
of the highest order of mind, scholars of the profoundest 
erudition, Christians of the most enlightened piety, after years 
and years of patient, laborious, prayerful, and independent 
study, and in the face of a speedily-appearing Judge, have 
thus solemnly proclaimed to the world that we are now stand- 
ing upon the very eve of the Savior's coming. And he who 
can rise up and pronounce their testimony false, must, under 
the circumstances, assume a daring, assurance and responsi- 
bility at which a pious heart should be appalled. 

Neither is it a useless or unimportant thing to have the 
solemn truth distinctly and pointedly brought before the 
people of both the church and the world. The subject of the 
speedy coming again of the Lord is one of the intensest prac- 
tical value and of comfort to the believing heart. It need 
effect no one but for good. It may be awful to think of it ) 
but it will be vastly more awful to have to encounter those 
scenes unprepared. Nor can there be any just reason for any 
one to dread the subject. It is the master-theme of the gos- 
pel and the final chorus in which all the harmony of the 
Scriptures concentrates and combines. People regard it as 
only terrific, whereas the Scriptures commingle with it the 
fulfillment of all man's sublimest joy. Jesus says, " When these 
things begin to come to pass, then LOOK UP AND LIFT UP 

YOUR HEADS : FOR YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH." 

Hear and consider, ye of little faith. " Are you so enamored 
of sickness that you have no longing for the resurrection-body 
and the beauteous robes of incorruption and immortality? 



DESIRABLENESS OF THE END. 305 

Are you so enamored of aches, and ills, and losses, and be- 
reavements, and pains, and battles, and famine, and plague, 
and pestilence, that you do not wish them to be done with ? 
Why, every statement in this blessed book leads us to the 
otherwise-delightful conclusion that the nearer the great issue 
comes the happier God's people should feel. The sound that 
rings sweet and audible from the skies amidst the crash of 
nations, the overturning of thrones, the dissolution of dynas- 
ties, and wars and rumors of wars, is, Lift up your heads, — 
your redemption is near ! And if I should be able only to 
point out a few weeds floating upon the sea that indicate 
we are approaching the great continent of glory, — if I should 
be able only to give an Alpine flower here and there, however 
fragile, yet a sweet messenger of the coming spring, — every true 
Christian ought to rejoice and be glad that there are tokens 
of a day when a genesis shall pass upon the earth better and 
brighter than the first, and a paradise come in as the coronal 
of time more glorious than that which was its dawn." So 
discourses one who, from Covent Garden, is warming more 
hearts with these momentous themes than any other living 
man. And many have expressed themselves to the same 
effect. 

Luther once held in his hand a necklace of agates, and said, 
" I would readily eat up this to-day for the judgment to come 
to-morrow." " Blessed consummation of this weary and sor- 
rowful world I" says the eloquent Irving ; "I give it wel- 
come, — I hail its approach, — I wait its coming more than 
they that watch for the morning. Over the wrecks of a world 
I weep, — over broken hearts of parents, — over suffering in- 
fancy, — over the unconscious clay of sweet innocents, — over 
the untimely births that have never seen the light, or have 
just looked upon it and shut their eyes until the glorious light 
of the resurrection-morn. my Lord, come away ! Hasten 
with all thy congregated ones ! My soul desireth to see the 
U 26* 



306 THE LAST TIMES. 

King in his beauty, and the beautiful ones whom he shall 
bring along with him." " Come forth out of thy royal cham- 
bers, Prince of all the kings of earth !" says England's 
greatest poet. "Put on the visible robes of thy imperial 
majesty. Take up that unlimited sceptre which thy Almighty 
Father hath bequeathed thee. For now the voice of thy 
Bride calls thee, and all creatures sigh to be renewed." 
"How cheering the hope," says Cox, — "how cheering the 
hope, amidst the din of war, the shouts of false joy, the 
yell of idolatry and the groans of creation, that a period 
is hastening when peace shall stretch its shady wings over 
the sons of men, when rivers of joy shall water this vale 
of tears, when cherubim to cherubim shall cry, Holy, holy, 

HOLY IS THE LORD GrOD OF HOSTS J THE WHOLE EARTH IS 

full OF HIS glory !" " Oh that Christ would remove the 
covering, draw aside the curtains of time and rend the heavens 
and come down I" says Rutherford. " Oh that shadows and 
night were gone, that the day would break, and that He who 
feedeth among the lilies would cry to his heavenly trumpeters, 
Make ready, let us go down and fold together the four corners 
of the earth !" " Hasten, O my Savior, the time of thy 
return," says Baxter. " Send forth thine angels, and let 
that dreadful joyful trumpet sound. Delay not, lest the living 
give up their hopes; delay not, lest earth should grow like 
hell and thy church be crumbled to dust. . . . Oh, hasten that 
great resurrection-day, when the seed that thou sowest cor- 
ruptible shall come forth incorruptible, and graves that re- 
ceived but rottenness and retain but dust shall return thee glo- 
rious stars and' suns. Thy desolate Bride saith, Come. The 
whole creation saith, Come, even so, come, Lord Jesus!" 
And why should not every believing heart look up and re- 
spond with rapture, "Amen, and amen" ? View the untold 
glories which Christ shall bring with him for every waiting 
soul. Consider the sublimities of happiness which that great 



NEARNESS OP THE ADVENT A SUBJECT OF JOY. 307 

consummation shall spread forever upon this smitten world. 
And why should we start back from the conviction that it is 
near? 

"Thrice blessed hope, 
If home like this await the weary soul ! 
Look up, thou stricken one ! Thy wounded heart 
Shall bleed no more at sorrow's stern control." 

When the blessed Savior was about to leave this world, he 
said, " I go to prepare a place for you. And, if I go and 
prepare a place for you, / will come again and receive you 
unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also/' And 
hardly had he reached the threshold of his Father's sublime 
and holy habitation until he shouted back, " Surely I come 
quickly." Nor does the church enter into the rapture of 
her hopes until she brings herself to respond with John, 
"Amen ; even so, come, Lord Jesus I" Therein lies our 
highest joy. All that is dear and precious is linked with that 
glorious coming. And when He who is our life shall appear, 
then shall we also appear with him in glory. Then all wrongs 
shall be righted, the long-severed united and long-deferred 
hope be fulfilled. Every thing now is disjointed, depressed, 
sickly and sad. We are surrounded with funerals, graves, 
diseases, crimes and tears. There is no home so happy, and 
no heart so joyous", but it has in it the deep undertones of 
sorrow and trouble. 

** There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead lamb is there ; 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 

But hath one vacant chair. 
The air is full of farewells of the dying, 

And mournings for the dead ; 
The heart of Rachel for her children crying 

Will not be comforted." 

But when the expected Savior comes, these woes and griefs 
shall have an end. Then shall the buried babe and slumbering 



308 THE LAST TIMES. 

boy of promise awake from the cold dark sleep of years, no 
more to writhe under fierce disease, or to be torn from pa- 
rental love. Then shall those loved forms on which the clods 
are pressing, and over whose damp resting-places many a win- 
ter's snow has lain and many a summer's flower bloomed, come 
forth to light and life never again to fall under the power of 
corruption. Then shall the broken and scattered household 
be regathered to separate no more. Then shall be the coro- 
nation-day for them that have labored and suffered for Jesus. 
Then shall the martyr receive his crown and the saint his 
ineffable portion. Then shall tears cease to flow and sadness 
to depress. Then shall the exile reach his happy home and 
the toiling pilgrim find his everlasting rest. Then shall the 
worshipper look upon the face of his God and the faithful 
servant receive the transporting commendation and welcome 
of his Lord. Then shall earth's long-predicted sabbath come 
and the eternal jubilee of the redeemed begin. Then shall 
the mystery of divine compassion be consummated, and this 
prodigal orb of ours, restored once more to her Father's 
smiles, take her place in the sisterhood of unfallen worlds, 
reflecting in richer lustre and celebrating in grander songs 
the praises of Him who made it and the mercies of Him that 
redeemed it with his blood. 

No, no, no ; the doctrine of the Savior's speedy coming is 
not a thing of gloom and sadness. It is gospel, — pure gospel, 
— nothing but good news. If it has any thing distressing 
in it, you yourself must put it there by your hard-heartedness, 
your prayerlessness and unforsaken sin. If you have fixed 
your heart and faith on Jesus as your prophet, priest and 
king, you have naught to fear and every thing to hope. 
They that put their trust in him shall never be put to con- 
fusion. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the 
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Hath he 
not said, " He that confesseth me before men, him will I also 



CONCLUDING EXHORTATION. 309 

confess before my Father, and before his holy angels" ? Is 
not the immutable covenant made and sealed, pledging all 
the sublime attributes of God for the believer's safety ? If 
he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up freely for us 
all, will he not with him also freely give us all things ? The 
only question is, Have you submitted to Christ? Have you 
given up to do all your duty as he enjoins it ? Have you 
accepted of him as your Savior and your hope ? Have you 
identified yourself with him in the fellowship of his church ? 
Is he your alpha and your omega ? — your all in all ? Then fear 
not. Only be faithful a little longer, and the day will come 
which will be to you a gladder day than ever you thought it 
possible for you to see. And as you behold the fig-leaves put- 
ting forth as the heralds of its approach, "look up and lift up 
your head; for your redemption draweth nigh." 

But God forbid that. I should cry peace where there is no 
peace, or encourage hope where there is no hope. If any of 
you are yet prayerless, without submission to Christ, loving 
self or the world more than God, and standing aloof from the 
gospel-way of life, you may well be alarmed and tremble at 
what is before you. The day of the Savior's revelation will 
be a day of fearful vengeance upon them that know not God 
and obey not the gospel of his Son. And better, a thousand 
times better, that you should now be filled with all Belshazzar's 
terror, if it will lead you to repentance, than to go on in carnal 
comfort and meet your coming Judge with hearts unrecon- 
ciled and sins unforgiven. And yet you need not tremble 
with utter despair. You are not where the rich man called 
for help but found it not. The door of salvation still is open. 
The proclamation of forgiving mercy still rings in your ears. 
Wicked and negligent as you have been, you may yet come 
and share in the sublimest joys Christianity has to give. 
Your injured and weeping Redeemer still stretches out to you 
his hands and bids you Come. The Spirit and the Bride say 



310 THE LAST TIMES. 

Come. And whosoever will, let him come. Oh, how great is 
the mercy which some of you have abused, and the compas- 
sion and privileges which you have set at naught ! Never- 
theless, here I am to-day, with authority from God in heaven 
to offer to you a free forgiveness and eternal life, if you will 
but accept the gift upon the plain and easy terms therewith 
annexed: — "Turn yourselves and live." Will you do it? 
You, prayerless, careless father, mother, child, reviler, prodi- 
gal, blasphemer, scoffer, neglecter of God, will you do it? 
Your time is growing short. Your day of grace will soon be 
over. Your summer-time of hope will soon have passed away. 
Will you now start to be a child of God and heir of heaven ? 
There is room enough ; will you come and occupy it ? The 
robes, and palms, and harps and crowns of righteousness and 
life are soon to be distributed ; will you come and put in your 
application ? Oh, let those stiff necks bend, those hard hearts 
relent, those stubborn wills surrender; and send up your 
prayers to the mercy-seat now ere it is changed to an inex- 
orable judgment-throne. Gracious God ! pity poor sinners, 
and spare them yet a little, and plead mightily with them that 
they may repent and live ! Oh, suffer them not to perish for- 
ever ; but so move them by thy good Spirit that they may 
seek thy face and come with all thj T saints into the joys of 
that nearing world for which we long and wait. And then 
and there we will ever sing, " Unto him that loved us, 
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests unto god, to 
him be glory and dominion forever and ever. 
Amen." 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and 
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all, now, hence- 
forth, and evermore. Amen. 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 311 



mother dear, Jerusalem, 

When shall I come to thee ? 
When shall my sorrows have an end?— 

Thy joys when shall I see? 
happy harbor of the saints ! 

sweet and pleasant soil ! 
In thee no sorrows can be found, — 

No grief, no care, no toil. 

In thee no sickness is at all, 

No hurt, nor any sore ; 
There is no death, nor ugly sight, 

But life for evermore. 
No dimming cloud o'ershadows thee, 

No cloud nor darksome night; 
But every soul shines as the sun, 

For God himself gives light. 

There, lust and lucre cannot dwell, 

There, envy bears no sway; 
Tker9 is no hunger, thirst, nor heat, 

But pleasures every way. 
Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 

Would God I were in thee ! 
Oh that ray sorrows had an end, 

Thy joys that I might see ! 

No pains, no pangs, no grieving grief, 

No woful night, is there ; 
No sigh, no sob, no cry is heard — 

No well-a-day, no fear. 
Jerusalem the city is 

Of God our King alone ; 
The Lamb of God, the light thereof, 

Sits there upon his throne. 

God ! that I Jerusalem 
With speed may go behold ! 

For why ? the pleasures there abound 
Which here cannot be told. 






bl2 THE LAST TIMES. 

Thy turrets and thy pinnacles 
With carbuncles do shine, 

With jasper, pearl, and chrysolite, 
Surpassing pure and fine. 

Thy houses are of ivory, 
Thy windows crystal clear, 

Thy streets are laid with beaten gold- 
There angels do appear. 

Thy walls are made of precious stone, 
Thy bulwarks diamonds square, 

Thy gates are made of Orient pearl — 
God, if I were there ! 

Within thy gates nothing can come 

That is not passing clean ; 
No spider's web, no dirt, no dust, 

No filth, may there be seen. 
Jehovah, Lord, now come away, 

And end my grief and plaints ; 
Take me to thy Jerusalem, 

And place me with thy saints. 

Who there are crown'd with glory great* 

And see God face to face ; 
They triumph still and aye rejoice — 

Most happy is their case. 
But we that are in banishment 

Continually do moan ; 
We sigh, we mourn, we sob, we weep, 

Perpetually we groan. 

Our sweetness mixed is with gall, 

Our pleasures are but pain, 
Our joys not worth the looking on — 

Our sorrows aye remain. 
But there they live in such delight, 

Such pleasures and such play, 
That unto them a thousand years 

Seem but as yesterday. 

my sweet home, Jerusalem ! 
Thy joys when shall I see? 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 31J 

Thy King sitting upon his throne, 

And thy felicity ? 
Thy vineyards and thy orchards, 

So wonderfully rare, 
Are furnish'd with all kinds of fruit, 

Most beautifully fair. 

There David stands, with harp in hand, 

As master of the choir; 
A thousand times that man were bless' d 

That might his music hear. 
There Mary sings " Magnificat," 

With tunes surpassing sweet; 
And all the virgins bear their part, 

Singing about her feet. 

" Te Deum," doth St. Ambrose sing, 

St. Austin doth the like; 
Old Simeon and Zacharie 

Have not their songs to seek. 
There Magdalene hath left her moan, 

And cheerfully doth sing, 
With all blest saints whose harmony 

Through every street doth ring. 

Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 

Thy joys fain would I see; 
Come, quickly, Lord, and end my grief 

And take me home to thee ! 
Oh, paint thy name in my forehead, 

And take me hence away, 
That I may dwell with thee in bliss, 

And sing thy praises aye ! 

Jerusalem, the happy home — 

Jehovah's throne on high ! 
sacred city, queen, and wife, 

Of Christ eternally ! 
comely queen, with glory clad, 

With honor and degree, 
All fair thou art, exceeding bright, 

No spot there is in thee. 
27 



811 THE LAST TIMES. 

I long to see Jerusalem, 

The comfort of us all ; 
For thou art fair and beautiful, — 

None ill can thee befall. 
In thee, Jerusalem, I say, ' 

No darkness dare appear; 
No night, no shade, no winter foul,— 

No time doth alter there. 

No candle needs, no moon to shine, ^ 

No glittering stars to light ; 
For Christ, the King of righteousness. 

Forever shineth bright. 
A Lamb unspotted, white, and pure, 

To thee doth stand in lieu 
Of light, — so great the glory is 

Thine heavenly King to view. 

He is the King of kings, beset 

In midst his servants' sight ; 
And they, his happy household, all 

Do serve him day and night ; 
There, there the choir of angels sing ; 

There the supernal sort 
Of citizens, which hence are rid 

From dangers deep, do sport. 

There be the prudent prophets all, 

The apostles six and six, 
The glorious martyrs in a row, 

And confessors betwixt. 
There doth the crew of righteous men 

And nations all consist,' 
Young men and maids that here on earth 

Their pleasures did resist. 

The sheep and lambs that hardly 'scap'd 

The snare of death and hell 
Triumph in joy eternally, 

Whereof no tongue can tell ; 
And though the glory of each one 

Doth differ in degree, 
Yet is the joy of all alike 

And common as we see. 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 315 

There love and charity do reign, 

And Christ is all in all, 
Whom they most perfectly behold 

In joy celestial. 
They love, they praise, — they praise, they love j 

They "Holy, holy," cry; 
They neither toil, nor faint, nor end, 

But laud eternally. 

Oh, happy thousand times were I, 

If, after wretched days, 
I might with listening ears conceive 

Those heavenly songs of praise 
Which to the eternal King are sung 

By happy wights above, — 
By saved souls and angels sweet, 

Who love the God of love. 

Oh, passing happy were my state, 

Might I be worthy found 
To wait upon my God and King, 

His praises there to sound. 
mother dear, Jerusalem, 

When shall I come to thee ? 
When shall my sorrows have an end ? — 

Thy joys when shall I see? 

Yet once again I pray thee, Lord, 

To quit me from all strife, 
That to thy hill I may attain, 

And dwell there all my life, 
With cherubims and seraphims, 

And souls of holy men, 
To sing thy praise, God of hosts, 

Forever, and amen. 

David Dicksow. 



316 



THE LAST TIMES. 



fjtotes and ^bbitimral (Stektions. 



Note A. First Discourse, P. 10. 

CJPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN AS TO THE TIMES IN WHICH WE LIVE. 

Luther, in his lifetime, said, " I am persuaded that verily 
the day of judgment is not far off; yea, will not be absent 
three hundred years longer. The voice will soon be heard, 
* Behold the Bridegroom cometh V " (See Chap. I. of his 
Tahle- Talk.) Luther died in 1546. 

Archdeacon Browne, of England, in 1835, said that he was 
"strongly impressed with the conviction that our lot has fallen 
under the solemn period emphatically designated in Daniel as 
the time of the end \" 

Dr. Duff, of Scotland, recently said, " Surely the present 
crisis is constraining us to arise, and that with our whole heart. 
Surely it looks as if in response to the sighing of the whole 
creation groaning in uneasiness and pain, through long by- 
gone ages, for the times of the restitution of all things, — surely 
in answer to the plaintive cry of the myriad martyrs from 
under the altar, who age after age have been uttering their 
longing cry, * How long, Lord, how long V — He who is 
seated on the throne on high is now indicating, by no ordinary 
signs, that he is to arise and assume his great power, and to 
manifest himself as really King and Governor among the 
nations. Surely, in the language of one of old, the great 
Messiah is about to come forth from his royal chamber, — 
about to put on the invisible robes of his imperial majesty, 



OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN. 317 

and to take up the unlimited sceptre which his Father hath 
bequeathed to him. Even now, in the ear of faith, and al- 
most in the ear of sense, we may hear the distant noise of the 
chariot-wheels of the mighty Saviour-King, coming forth con- 
quering and to conquer, amid the shaking of the nations from 
pole to pole. Every nation has of late been upheaving from 
its ancient settled foundations ; and there will be mightier 
upheavings still, and that right speedily, — all preparing the 
way for the new heavens and the new earth, in which right- 
eousness will forever dwell !" 

Macaulay, the essayist, wrote, in 1831, " Many Christians 
believe that the Messiah will shortly establish a kingdom on 
the earth and reign visibly over all its inhabitants. Whether 
this doctrine be orthodox or not, we shall not inquire. The 
number of people who hold it is very much greater than the 
number of Jews residing in England. Many of those who 
hold it are distinguished by rank, wealth, and ability; it is 
preached from pulpits both of the Scottish and of the Eng- 
lish Church. Noblemen and members of Parliament have 
written in defence of it, — who expect 'that before this 
generation shall pass away, all the kingdoms of the earth 
will be swallowed up in one Divine Empire/ M — Essays on 
the Jews. 

Dr. N. L. Rice says, " The world is now rapidly approach- 
ing another great epoch, the most important in the history of 
our world." u We live in an eventful day." "The time can- 
not be distant when great changes are to take place among 
the nations. It is our wisdom, therefore, both to examine 
carefully and prayerfully the prophecies whose fulfilment is 
yet future, and to watch passing events, which throw light 
upon these prophecies. Tt is a great misfortune to mistake 
the character of the age in which we live, and to fail to un- 
derstand the signs which God gives, that his people may act 

with him their part." — Signs of the Times 

27* 



318 THE LAST TIMES. 

Rev. Hollis Read, author of "God in History," says, " We 
are living in a very remarkable period of the world's history. 
A very general impression obtains in all reflecting minds 
that we are on the confines of another of those signal crises 
which mark the history of our race. The signs of the times 
are strangely significant." " There is a feeling in the human 
breast that despotism, bloodshed, fraud, oppression, and un- 
bridled lust, have, in defiance of Heaven, rioted long enough, 
and that a righteous G-od will soon rise in his wrath and make 
a short work. This prophetic yearning for deliverance — this 
instinctive prophecy of the human heart-^-is not peculiar to 
the Christian : the Hindoo, the Mohammedan, the Papist, 
feels it. The world waits the coming change." — The Coming 
Crisis of the World. 

Dr. Stephen H. Tyng says, "Whatever may be the will 
of God, who keeps the times and seasons in his own power, in 
prolonging the days, of which we can know nothing, we may, 
and must, still say, that all the lines of prophecy meet in this 
designated year 1868, as the time of the glorious coming of 
the Son of man, — the manifestation of the Lord Jesus in the 
glory of his kingdom, according to the testimony of Scrip- 
ture." — Articles on The Kingdom of God. 

Dr. Baird, in Kochester, 1852, remarked that "no well- 
informed man can look upon the world as it is, without 
coming to the conclusion that some great consummation is 
about to take place." 

Dr. Hitchcock, of Amherst, says, "In a very short time — 
far shorter than we imagine — all the scenes of futurity will be 
to us a thrilling reality !" — The Future Condition and Destiny 
of the Earth. 

Dr. G. B. Cheever writes, " It is impossible to look upon a 
more sublime spectacle than that which rises to the mind 
of a spiritual observer at the present crisis. A voice like 
ime archangel's trumpet is crying, ' Cast up, cast up the high- 



)PINIONS CF DISTINGUISHED MEN. 319 

way; gather out the stones; lift up a standard to the people!' 
Event rolls on after event. As the purposes of God are ad- 
vancing nearer to their completion, ten thousand significant 
events sweep onward in the train. The convergency of all 
things to the point becomes more and more rapid. Meaning 
begins to appear in events before shrouded in mystery. An 
omnipotent plan, it is manifest, is in operation, and the trains 
laid with Divine wisdom are fast completing." — Grant's Nes- 
tor ians, p. 360. 

Prof. George Bush says, "If we take the ground of right 
reason, we must believe that the present age is one expressly 
foretold in prophecy, and that it is just opening upon the 
crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations." 

Dr. Bogie said, in 1839, "Reflect what mighty changes 
have occurred in Europe in less than thirty years; what 
rapid revolutions have taken place within the last six years; 
changes which no one ten years ago could have imagined 
he would live to see. The next generation will behold more 
wonderful things, and may see the commencement of the 
thousand years." — Crisis, p. 309. 

These are the declarations of 'Christians. The Jewish mind 
has been brought to like convictions and anticipations. Rabbi 
Carillon, of Jamaica Island, affirms that " there is every 
reason to believe that the latter days are not far off: let us, 
therefore, be on the watch and in continual prayer." It is 
said by a European writer, that "Jews who never before 
thought of a Messiah begin now to say, ' These are the days 
of travail which precede His coming/ M Solomon Herschel, 
Rabbi of the chief synagogue of the Jews in London, is re- 
presented as saying that his people, after close investigation 
of the subject, think, with him, that the Messiah's advent 
cannot be delayed beyond 1863. And it was announced in 
zhe public journals in 1852 that there were then thousands 
of Jews in Jerusalem all anxiously expecting the Messiah. 



320 THE LAST TIMES. 

And what divines have uttered as their learning of the 
Scriptures, statesmen and philosophers have also declared as 
their reading of the indications of events. 

Hon. Rufus Choate remarked, in 1851, " It has seemed to 
me as if the prerogatives of crowns, and the rights of men, 
and the hoarded-up resentments and revenges of a thousand 
years, were about to unsheath the sword for a conflict, in 
which blood shall flow, as in the Apocalyptic vision, to the 
bridles of the horses, and in which a whole age of men shall 
pass away, in which the great bell of Time shall sound out an- 
other hour, in which society itself shall be tried by fire and 
steel, whether it is of nature and nature's GJ-od or not." 

Sir Robert Peel said in Parliament, in 1842, "Every as- 
pect of the present times, viewed in the light of the past, 
warrants the belief that we are on the eve of a universal 
change." 

Louis Kossuth not long ago said, " I say this prophetically. 
I have already read it in the book of Providence, which is 
made to be a revelation to mankind. The destiny of man- 
kind has come to the turning-point of centuries. There is a 
cry of alarm upon the ostensible approach of universal dan- 
ger. The despotic governments of Europe feel their ap- 
proaching death. The decisive struggle is near. It will be 
the last in mankind's history." 

Dr. Arnold observes, " Modern history appears to be not 
only a step in advance of ancient history, but the last step; 
it appears to bear marks of the fulness of time, — as if there 
would be no future history beyond it. My sense of the evils 
of the times that are coming, and of the prospects to which I 
am bringing up my poor children, is overwhelming." — Modern 
History, p. 38. 

The Living Age says, " We stand at a great starting-point 
in the history of the world. Old things are about to pass 
away, and we know not what shall be the new. The conti- 



OPINIONS OP DISTINGUISHED MEN. 321 

nent of Europe, startled by the warning trumpet of 1848, has 
cowered into silence; all faces gather blackness, and men's 
hearts fail them for fear of what is coming on the earth." 

And the spirit of the Press generally is to the same effect. 

The Presbyterian Expositor says, " We live in a day of un- 
precedented excitement and agitation ; and the minds of all 
intelligent men are looking for great events. No wonder that 
some are expecting the second coming of the Son of Grod to 
subdue to himself all kingdoms and reign on earth a thou- 
sand years. Beyond a question, we are on the eve of great 
events." 

The New York Evangelist, in 1848, remarked, " Had the 
present state of Europe been prophesied fifty years ago, would 
any have credited the prophecy? We believe that in this 
year we have seen the beginning of the end." 

The Christian Luminary says, "This truly is an age of 
wonders, changes, and revolutions. No thinking man can 
open his eyes upon the great events that are passing before 
us, without being impressed with the signs of the times, and 
constrained to admit that important scenes are about to be 
opened to the view of an astonished world. The seals are 
opening; the trumpets are sounding; the nations are shaking; 
signs are seen in the heavens and on earth." 

A writer in The Christian Review says, " I am strongly 
persuaded that the present generation of men stand upon the 
very eve of the mightiest revolution that the annals of time 
record." "A silent, rapid, irresistible preparation has been 
making, — making, perhaps, for a sudden, subversive, and uni- 
versal change. What will it be ?" 

And The Scientific Mechanic affirms, "No man now living 
has ever witnessed, nor has any historian recorded, so inte- 
resting a position of the world and the nations thereof, as is 
presented at the present time. . . . Men are looking upon the 
present convulsed state of the world as portending great poli- 



322 THE LAST TIMES. 

tical reforms ; but, in view of certain facts which cannot be 
disputed, we think it reasonable that faithful Christians should 
look for something more important. The world is now iust 
about six thousand years old Viewing the fact in connection 
with the unprecedented tempests, inundations, earthquakes, 
and famines which have occurred within the last few years, 
and the present extraordinary perplexity and commotions 
among the nations, we cannot avoid the anticipation of events 
incomparably more important than any that have been prog- 
nosticated by the secular press." 

Church of England Quarterly Review. — " We live in times 
when the Christian and the Infidel, the statesman and the 
divine, seem to agree in the expectation that some great crisis 
is at hand. The public mind, both at home and abroad, is 
held in the calm of a feverish suspense. New and strange 
blasphemies are coming to the birth ; the foundations of the 
State are loosing, and the Church of God is beset and assailed 
on every side. . . . All eyes are fixed with an eager gaze upon 
the dark and coming future." 

Lord, Shaftesbury, at a recent meeting for promoting 
Christianity among the Jews, said, " The signs of the times 
are really unparalleled and most wonderful. And I think it 
does not proceed from any spirit of fanaticism, if we say that 
we really believe they are tending to some final consumma- ' 
tion." 

An able English writer says, " I would earnestly entreat the 
unthinking world to ponder well the fact, that fulfilled and 
hourly fulfilling prophecy prove to demonstration, that the days 
of the apostate kingdoms of the earth are numbered, — that the 
Jay of the Lord's vengeance and the year of his redeemed are 
at hand." 

Hewitson, "All things portend change on an unparalleled 
scale, and disaster such as never yet has been witnessed in any 
age, as being near at hand to this evil world." 



THE WORD GENERATION IN MATT. XXIV. 34. 323 

Note B. First Discourse, p. 29. 

ON THE MEANING OF yevefc ("GENERATION") IN MATT XXIV. 34. 

Both the Syriac and the G-erman versions render the word 
yevsa, in this place, by terms which signify a continuous race f 
rather than the people living within one limited period of 
time. 

The annotators in the Berlenberg Bible also understand it 
to refer to "des Judischen Volks, die Nachkommen mitge- 
rechnet." — in loc. 

Flacius Illyricus takes the Savior's declaration as equiva- 
lent to "gentum Judaicam non interituram prorsus." — Scrip. 
Clav., art. Generatio. 

Joseph Mede, one of the most learned men of his age, 
says, "yevsa signifies not only setas, but gens, natio progenies ; 
and so ought to be here taken, viz. : that the nation of the 
Jews should not perish till all these things were fulfilled." 

Dr. Clarke renders the phrase, Matt, xxiii. 36, " Etzi tyjv 
yeveav zaurqv, upon this race of men, viz.: the Jews." On 
Matt. xi. 16, he renders the same phrase the same way, and 
says, "so the word ysvsa is often to be understood in the 
Evangelists.' ' On Matt. xii. 39, he says, further, that this 
word should be taken as denoting a race of people, and that 
so it "should be translated in most other places in the Gos- 
pels ', for our Lord, in general, uses it to point out the Jewish 
people. This translation is the key to unlock some very ob- 
scure passages in the Evangelists." And in the passage in 
question he explains the Savior's declaration to mean that 
"this race, i.e. the Jews, shall not cease from being a distinct 
people, till all the counsels of God relative to them and the 
Gentiles be fulfilled. Some translate y yevsa aorrj, this genera- 
tion, meaning the persons who were then living, that they 



324 THE LAST TIMES. 

should not die before these signs, &c. took place ; but ... I 
think it more proper not to restrain its meaning to the few 
years which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem ; but to 
understand it of the care taken by Divine Providence to pre- 
serve them as a distinct people, and yet keep them out of their 
own land and from their temple-service." 

Edward King remarks, "yevea, in its true etymological 
signification, means surely much rather this race of mankind, 
or this mode of men's existing upon earth in the present life, 
than this one particular generation, according to the vulgar 
acceptation." — Morsels of Criticism, vol. i. p. 405. 

"The expression, this generation," says Dr. Auberlen, 
"which has caused so much discussion, means here, not this 
present generation, but this unbelieving Jewish people. For 
it has not only been proven with much erudition by Dorner 
(in his Dissertatio de Oratione Christi eschatologica) that the 
expression yevea may be also used of a people; but, even 
taking the word literally, Christ often uses it with somewhat 
of an undercurrent of reproach. It is impossible to think 
that the expression refers to the term of human life." — On 
Daniel & Rev., p. 354. 

Dr. Stier finds a parallel in Matt, xxiii. 36, where, he says, 
" not merely the then present, last, generation was meant, but, 
including backwards the entire race as one stock and lineage, 
the entire people who are judged in the last generation ; so 
the term here has the same signification pointing forwards. 
Just because the children are like the fathers, yevta passes 
beyond the species into the idea of the yevoq, and this is the 
proper sense of this expression when it is used concerning 
Israel. . . . What further reference, then, does yevea include, 
if not the wondrous continuance of Israel even to the end for 
which it is spared ?" — in loc. 

Dorner has stated the conclusion of his learned investiga- 
tion of the subject in these words : "Quare omnes reor con- 



THE WORD GENERATION IN MATT. XXIV. 34. 325 

cessuros, vocem yevea, si earn vertas setas, multas easque 
plane insuperabiles ciere difficultates, contextum vero et ora- 
tiones progressum flagitare significationeni gentis, nempe Ju- 
dxorum." — Stier, iii. 291. 

Calovius also understands the reference here to be to the 
Jewish nation. — Lange, in loc. 

Dean Alford refers to Jer. viii. 3 in LXX. ; Matt, xxxiii. 
36, 35 j Matt. xii. 45 \ Luke xvii. 25 \ Matt. xvii. 17 ; Luke xvi. 8 j 
Acts ii. 40 ; Phil. ii. 15; and says, "In all these places yevea is 
equivalent to yevo<:,ov nearly so; having, it is true, a more preg- 
nant meaning, implying that the character of one generation 
stamps itself upon the race, as here in this verse also. . . . The 
continued use of -apepyoiiat in verses 34, 35, should have 
saved the commentators from the blunder of imagining that 
the then living generation was meant, seeing that the prophecy 
is by the next verse carried on to the end of all things, and 
that, as a matter of fact, the apostles and ancient Christians 
did continue to expect the Lord's coming after that genera- 
tion had passed away." — Greek N. Test., in loc. 

The same interpretation of this word in this passage is 
given also by Pareus, Jansenius, Wolfius, Du Veil, Dr. 
Sykes, Towers, Barnes, Buck, and Ryle. It is without doubt 
the true interpretation. And, if so, it entirely does away with 
the alleged necessity of applying the discourse in which it 
occurs, to the destruction of Jerusalem, and shows that the 
great burden of the prophecy relates to the last times, and the 
proper coming of Christ at the great consummation. 



28 



326 THE LAST TIMES. 



Note C. Second Discourse, p. 57. 

THE AUGSBUBG AND HELVETIC CONFESSIONS AGAINST THE MODERN 
IDEAS OF THE MILLENNIUM. 

The words referring to the subject, in tJie Augustana, are 
found in the Seventeenth Article: — "Item, hie werden ver- 
worffen etliche judische Lehre, die sich auch jtzund eraugen, 
das vor der Auferstehung die Toden, eitel heilige, fromme 
ein weltlich Reich haben, und alle gottlosen vertilgen 
werden." The Latin version reads, " Danmant et alios, qui 
nunc spargunt judaicas, quod ante resurrectionum mortuum 
pii regnum mundi occupaturi sint, ubique oppressis impiis." 
A very good translation is given in Hall's " Harmony of Con- 
fessions," in these words : — "They condemn others also, which 
spread abroad Jewish opinions, that, before the resurrection 
of the dead, the godly shall get the sovereignty in the world, 
and the wicked be brought under in every place." 

With this harmonizes exactly the eleventh chapter of the 
Latter Confession of Helvetia, where it is written, " More- 
over, we condemn the Jewish dreams, that before the judg- 
ment there shall be a golden world in the earth, and that the 
godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked 
enemies being trodden under foot; for the evangelical truth, 
Matt. xxiv. and xxv., and Luke xxi., and the apostolic doc- 
trine in the Second Epistle to Timothy iii. and iv., are found 
to teach far otherwise." 

These quotations give the highest Confessional authority in 
modern Christendom, and they are clearly against the doc- 
trine of a Millennium of universal triumph for Christianity 
and the Church previous to the coming of Christ and the 
resurrection of the dead. 



THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION ON CHILIASM. 327 

Note D. Second Discourse, p. 57. 

DOES THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION CONDEMN CHILIASM? 

It has been asserted by many, that the quotation in the 
preceding note condemns all Chiliastic or Millenarian teach- 
ings. (Vide Knapp, Theol. 2, p. 637 ; Schraid, Dogmatic, 
p. 520; Schott, Aug. Con/, p. 109; Schmucker, Manual, 
p. 196; Moehler, Symbolism, p. 430; et cetera.) It is a 
statement, however, which has been made without the proper 
discrimination, and which cannot be maintained. That there 
is a kind of Chiliasm which is condemned by the Augsburg 
Confession, is admitted. That those are in error, who say that 
a temporal kingdom (weltlich Reich) will be possessed by the 
saints and the godly, and that by them the ungodly will be 
rooted out of the earth, or subdued to servitude, we sincerely 
believe. With equal heartiness do we refuse to assent to 
those who teach that the partakers of the first resurrection 
shall spend their millennial reign upon earth in all sorts of cor- 
poreal gratifications. There have also been people, who have 
been more or less identified with Chiliastic teachings, whose 
views on other subjects, and whose manner of life, have been 
so reprehensible that we can by no means acknowledge fel- 
lowship or sympathy with them. From such notions and 
teachers the Confessors thought it necessary to separate them- 
selves in this article, in which we fully subscribe to their tes- 
timony. But that all Cliiliasm, or that Chiliasm per se, is 
here condemned, we do not believe, and urge in support of 
our view the following considerations : — 

1. Chiliasm, or Millenarianism, is not at all named in the 
Confession, nor anywhere in the Lutheran symbols. This, 
we suppose* will not be disputed. By name, therefore, it cer- 
tainly is not condemned. 

2. The description of the opinions condemned does not 



328 THE LAST TIMES. 

describe proper Millenarianism. It is no doctrine of Mil- 
lenarians that the pious are to have a separate kingdom to 
themselves "before the resurrection of the dead." The 
kingdom and administrations for which they look and hope 
are after the resurrection. The Millennium and personal 
reign which Papias taught the Church to expect, he distinctly 
put "AFTER the resurrection." (Euseb. Hist. 3, cap. 39, p. 
126.) Justin Martyr said there must first be a rising from 
the dead at the return of Christ. (Semisch's Life and Times 
of Justin, 2, p. 371.) Irenaeus expressed himself plainly to 
the same effect. (Dodgson's Tertullian, Oxford, Note D, p. 
121.) Tertullian wrote, "'We do indeed confess that a king- 
dom on earth is promised us, before the time of heaven, but 
in another state, because in a city the work of God, Jerusalem 
brought down from heaven, after the resurrection." (See 
Greswell on Parables, 1, p. 306.) Lactantius says, "When 
God shall come to judge the world, and shall restore unto life 
the just that have been since the beginning, he shall converse 
among men a thousand years, and rule them with a most 
righteous government. . . . And they that shall be raised from 
the dead shall be over the living as judges." And so all 
Chiliasts in all ages, who can in any reason be classed with 
those members of the Church to whom that designation pro- 
perly belongs, have believed and taught, viz., that an essen- 
tial preliminary to the instalment of the saints in their future 
blessed kinghood and priesthood is, their resurrection from 
the grave to immortality, and that it is only after the resur- 
rection that they are to reign with Christ. Either, then, the 
Confessors knew not about what they were speaking, or Chili- 
asm, as such, and as set forth by its only acknowledged 
teachers, is not the subject of condemnation in this article. 

3. It is plain from the words themselves, that' the Confes- 
sors here referred to a class of errorists living and active at 
the time the Confession was made. These were evidently 



THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION ON CHILIASM. 329 

the Anabaptists, who are named in another part of the 
Article, and who well deserved all the censure that was thus 
passed upon them. But they were not Millenarians, at least 
in the sense that the Church Fathers were. Chiliastic doc- 
trines were professed by some of them at first, but they were 
soon merged in enthusiastic and wicked extravagances, which 
presently extinguished them altogether. They denied the 
sufficiency of the Bible for man's spiritual enlightenment, 
claimed to be inspired, and put their utterances on a footing 
with the teachings of prophets and apostles. They taught, 
indeed, the speedy setting up of a kingdom, which they 
called the kingdom of Christ, but assigned it a character of 
outwardness and earthiness, and other features, as much at 
variance with Millenarians as with spiritualizers. They re- 
pudiated all human laws and magistrates, and set themselves 
to subvert all existing institutions, in order to realize the 
kingdom of their dreams, which can in no case be laid to the 
charge of Church Chiliasts. Instead of leaving to Christ to 
establish his own kingdom in his own time and superhuman 
way, as we teach, they themselves undertook to establish it 
with fire and sword, and took a certain tailor, John Buck- 
holdt, and set him up as " King of Zion," in the name and 
place of Jesus, regarding him as the representative of God 
himself, the Lord of all the earth, by whose administrations 
all worldly powers were to be rooted up, the wicked extermi- 
nated, and a kingdom of saints established in this world, with- 
out having to wait the time of "the resurrection of the just." 
(Vide Mosheim, Oh. Hist, vol. i. p. 78; Ranke, Hist. Reform., 
3, chap. 1; Hardwick, On Reform., pp. 273-280; Milner, Oh. 
Hist., 2, pp. 341, 409-441, 532 ; Mcehler, Symbolism, pp 
429-444 ; Knapp, Theol., art. 15, sec. 154 ; Walch, Luther s 
Works, 15, pp. 2366-2367 ; also, vol. 5, p. 1400.) 

That these were the people whose teachings and doings the 
Confessors meant to condemn, is shown by the terms they 

28* 



330 THE LAST TIMES. 

use, and all the surroundings of the case. That of which they 
meant to purge themselves and warn mankind was Munster 
Anabaptism, — a base furor of designing or deceived people, 
with which Christian Chiliasm has less in common, perhaps, 
than Mormonism with the teachings of Jesus, or Mohammed- 
anism with the Church of Christ. 

4. The best authorities on the subject also lead us to be- 
lieve that it was the seditious and infamous Judaizing doc- 
trines, and the perverted ideas of the kingdom of God, held 
and disseminated by the Anabaptists, which the Confessors 
here intended to disown and condemn, and these alone. 

The very highest authority is, of course, Luther himself. 
His understanding of the matter has been very well repro- 
duced in a work called Lutherus Redivivus, published in 1697, 
which professes to give authentically the opinions of Luther 
upon every Article of the Augsburg Confession. On page 
384, he is thus made to speak upon the points before us : — 
"As no one can better say than myself what the Augsburg 
Confession means by Jewish doctrines, in that I myself made 
the first draft of this Confession, I here give you this account: 
The Jews desire nothing more of their Messiah than that he 
should be a Chocab and worldly king, who will slay us Chris- 
tians and heathen, divide the earth among the Jews, and make 
them lords and princes, and finally, also, die like other kings, 
as also his children after him. For so says a Rabbi, ' Thou 
art not to imagine that it will be different, or go otherwise, 
in the times of the Messiah, than as has been arranged from 
the beginning of the world f that is, there will be day and 
night, years and lunations, summer and winter, seeding and 
harvests, rearing of children and dying, eating, drinking, 
sleeping, growing, digesting, &c, every thing as it is now, 
except that the Jews are to be the rulers, possess the gold 
and goods, joy and pleasure of the world, whilst we Chris- 
tians are to be their slaves." 



THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION ON CHILIASM. 331 

And as to these notions being put forth again at the time 
the Confession was written, he is made to say, further, "The 
celestial prophets, against whom I have written, also teach 
and hold, that they are to reform Christianity, and rebuild it 
after this fashion : they are to strangle all princes, and the 
ungodly, in order to make themselves lords upon earth, and 
live upon earth among none but saints. Such things, and 
much more, have I myself heard from them. And as, at the 
time, among other calumnies, this blame teas also cast upon us, 
as though the gospel taught and encouraged rebellion and un- 
dutifulness toivards authorities, we had, by these words of the 
Confession, to free ourselves of such imputations.' 7 

The passages referred to in Luther's works as authority for 
putting these words into his mouth are (Altenburg edition) 
Tom. VIII. fol. 268 b, IX. fol. 306 b, 1511 b, III. fol. 52 a, 
V. fol. 745 b. We have referred to these passages, and have 
found them in every important particular nearly word for 
word as connected in the above extract. 

The next highest authority in the case is Melancthon, who 
was the writer of the Confession as it was finally presented. 
He certainly should be presumed to know what was intended 
by the words in question. Referring, then, to his Variata 
of 1531, we find an explanatory amplification of this Article, 
in which he presents two propositions as containing the whole 
truth over against the errors therein condemned. They are 
these: first, that Christians are bound to be obedient to the 
government under which they live; and second, that the Church 
in this life is never to attain to a position of universal triumph 
and prosperity, but is to remain depressed, and subject to afflic- 
tions and adversities, until the period of the resurrection of the 
dead* 

* " Scimus enim quod pii debeant obedire prsesentibus magistratibus, 
non eripere eis imperia, non dissipare politias per seditionem, quia Paulus 
precipit, Omnis anima magistratui suo subdita sit. Scimus item, quod 



332 THE LAST TIMES. 

The first of these propositions was denied by the Anabap- 
tists; but, so far from being rejected by Millenarians, it is 
held and taught by them in common with all true Christians; 
and the second is a characteristic element of the Millenarian 
faith over against the vast majority of their opponents. Ac- 
cording to Melancthon, therefore, the subject of condemnation 
in this Article is not Millenarianism at all, but rather the 
views of its modern opposers, and that which has no sort of 
connection with it. 

A concurrent account of the meaning of this article of the 
Confession is also given by Dr. Semisch, in Herzog's Ency- 
clopedia, where he says that, although it may be taken as 
preclusive, yet, properly, it rejects as Jewish dreams only that 
caricature of true CJiiliasm put forth by the Anabaptists, who 
abrogated the magistracy and the ministry, and set up a Zion 
of their own, with community of goods and wives. (Vide 
Art. Chiliasmus, p. 663.) The same author affirms that the 
Church never did reject Chiliasm in its (Grundgedanken) 
essential ideas, but only in its Ebionistic or Judaic perversions. 

It is ably maintained also by a recent writer (Das Tauscnd- 
jdhrige Reich geh'ort nicht der Vergangenheit, sondern der Zu- 
hunft an: Giitersloh, 1860) that the Symbolical Books of the 
Lutheran Church do not condemn Chiliasm properly so called, 
but rather antichiliasm of every sort. Floerke, too, (in his 
Lehre vom tausendjahrigen Reiche, Marburg, 1859,) takes 
the same ground, and remarks, that the Confession itself 
limits its condemnation on this point by the words qui nunc 
spargunt; so that no Chiliasm is symbolically condemned 
but that only which was putting itself forth at the time, and 
with which we have no part. — See pp. 4-9. 

Ecclesia in hoc vita subjecta sit cruci, et primum post hanc vitam glorifi- 
cabitur, sicut Paulus inquit, Oportet nos similes fieri imaginis filii Dei ; 
Quare Anabaptistarum amentiam et diabolicum furorem damnamus et 
execramur ." — Corpus Reformatoruin (Melanck. Op.), vol. 26, p. 361. 



THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION ON CHILIASM. 333 

5. It is also a fact, which is not without considerable bear- 
ing upon the point, that some of the most intelligent, pious, 
and conscientious theologians of the Lutheran Church, who 
were sworn by their ordination vows to every Article of the 
Augsburg Confession, and who claimed to be faithful to those 
vows to the end of their lives, were Millenarians, and preached, 
published, and defended Millenarian doctrines. 

Pre-eminent among these was that distinguished prelate 
and scholar, John Albert Bengel, one of the clearest-minded 
critics that the Church has produced, who was a most 
decided Millenarian, and who not only claimed to be true 
to the Confessions on this point, but says, in his preface 
to his Gnomon, "No one as yet has called my orthodoxy in 
question." 

In the same list belongs the revered name of Doctor Philip 
Jacob Spener, " the Protestant Fenelon," to whose piety and 
teachings the Lutheran Church in this and all other countries 
owes much, and who, though severely assailed by dogmatists 
for his cherished expectations of the better times to come, 
maintained, to the satisfaction of his judges, that he taught 
nothing contrary to the Confession which he subscribed, 
and that what the Confessors condemn as Jewish dreams 
did in no way include what he preached as the glad hope of 
the Church in these its days of affliction. 

Another was the excellent Christian Augustus Crusius, 
Professor and Primarius of Theology in the University of 
Leipsic, who wrote the Hypomnemata ad Theol. JPropheticam, 
in which Hengstenberg and Delitzch find so much to admire 
and commend. 

Another was the great Swabian theosophist, Frederick 
Christoph Oetinger, whom Auberlen characterizes as a pro- 
found thinker, and concerning whom Schubart has said that 
an academy of learning and science expired with him. 

Still another was the pious Magnus Frederick Roos, whom 



834 THE LAST TIMES. 

Delitzch speaks of as "the great investigator of Scripture, 
full of quiet depth." 

And to the same class belong Philip Frederick Killer, one 
of the most prolific and admired of Germany's sacred poets; 
Joachim Lange, the able theologian of Halle; and Dr. J. 
G. Schmucker, one of the most pious and learned divines of 
the Lutheran Church of this country, whose work on the 
Apocalypse, setting forth the twofold resurrection, and the 
personal reign of Christ on the earth, also bears the recom- 
mendation of Drs. Helmuth, Lochman, and D. Kurtz, who 
were among the most learned, pious, and devoted Lutherans 
on this continent. 

With these also might be named numbers still living, emi- 
nent as Christians, theologians, and adherents to the Confes- 
sions of the Church, who yet hold and teach Millenarian 
doctrines. 

It is hard to presume that such men and scholars were so 
foolish as not to know to what they subscribed as their creed, 
or so hypocritical as to profess to hold to what they did not 
receive, — one or the other of which we are bound to believe 
if the Augsburg Confession condemns Chiliasm. 

6. And then, again, who can conceive of the blessed Re- 
formers and Confessors as sitting in judgment upon Barnabas, 
and Papias, and Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, Clement 
of Alexandria, Cyprian, Lactantius, and at least the great 
body of the orthodox Church for hundreds of years, and con- 
demning them all as errorists of a class with the Zwickau 
and Munster prophets ? Though refusing, as all Christians 
should refuse, to be bound in their faith to any thing but the 
inspired word, they still held the ancient fathers in high 
esteem as witnesses to the truth, and encouraged the careful 
study of them. (Vide Walch's Luther, vol. 22, p. 2050, vol. 
14, p. 420.) Even with reference to some who lived much later 
than those named, Luther averred that he would rather die 



SPIRITUALITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 335 

first, yea, that the day of judgment itself must come, before 
he would reject or condemn them. {Ibid. vol. 16, p. 2638.) 
And as the ancient Fathers, with others who succeeded them, 
certainly were Millenariansf we are forced either to assign to 
the Confessors the absurd position of holding those to be pious 
and worthy Christians whom they at the same time denounce 
as pernicious heretics, or to conclude that it was not Millen- 
arianism, as such, that they here meant to condemn. 

Upon these considerations, we hold it to be a mistake to say 
that Chiliasm of all forms has been rejected by the Augsburg 
Confession. It is a mere assumption, made without proper 
discrimination in the first place, and repeated by the enemies 
of Millenarian doctrine without proper scrutiny. We have 
sought in vain for adequate vouchers for its truth, and have 
not seen the first tittle of evidence that it is any thing more 
than a prevalent misapprehension. 



Note E. Fifth Discourse, p. 119. 

MILLENARIAN VIEWS OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 

It is sometimes insinuated to the discredit of Millenarians 
that they deny the spiritual reign of Christ over the heart, 
and look only for a carnal heaven and a sensual paradise. As 
they insist upon the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures in 
a plain, every-day manner, it is presumed that they ignore the 
proper spirituality of religion, and that their anticipations for 
the future must necessarily exclude the idea of spiritual good 
as the leading characteristic of the kingdom to come. So 
Origen, and Jerome, and Augustine after him; and so Cor- 
rodi, Seyffarth, and many of the modern writers and preachers 
against our doctrines. But nothing could be more uncandid 
and unjust. Though it may evince wit, it displays very little 

* See pp. 383-399. 



336 THE LAST TIMES. 

of that quality of mind and heart which is most to bo 
coveted in view of the solemn judgment to come. We do 
not deny that there may have been some fanatical and carnal 
people who have taught certain forms of Millenarian doc- 
trine, as there have been such to accept, caricature, and dis- 
grace the doctrines of every school of religious belief. But it 
is very questionable whether, as a class of Christian believers 
in the Church, there has ever lived a more earnest, spiritual- 
minded, and devout body of men, or any who have more uni- 
formly and stringently insisted on repentance, conversion, and 
real heart-obedience to the Savior, than Millenarians. 

Irenseus speaks of the saints who are to "reign in the 
earth" as "growing by the sight of the Lord," and "habit- 
uated to receive the glory of God the Father," and that they 
" shall in the kingdom receive a conversation and communion 
and unity of spiritual things with the holy angels." He says, 
further, that they shall "truly be practised for incorruption, 
and shall be enlarged and strengthened in the periods of the 
kingdom, so as to become capable of receiving the glory of 
the Father," and in the new heaven and new earth "shall 
abide ever new, and having intercourse with God." 

Justin Martyr says, " They from every nation, slaves or free, 
who believe in Christ, and know the truth in his words and in 
those of his prophets, know that they shall be with him, and 
shall inherit things eternal and incorruptible;" and that 
u they who repent not shall inherit nothing in the holy Mount; 
but the Gentiles which have believed in him, and repented of 
their sins, these shall inherit with the patriarchs, and the pro- 
phets, and the righteous who are sprung from Jacob. They 
shall inherit the holy inheritance of God." 

It is written of Melito, Bishop of Sardis, an acknowledged 
Millenarian, that, so far from being a carnal man, indulging 
himself with carnal dreams, " he had his whole conversation 
in the Holy Ghost." 



SPIRITUALITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 337 

Tertullian distinctly locates the joys of the children of the 
resurrection in all spiritual good things. Speaking of the 
glorious city, he says, "This, we say, is provided by God for 
receiving the saints upon the resurrection, and refreshing 
them with the abundance of all spiritual good things, in com- 
pensation for those which in the world we have either de- 
spised or lost." 

Dr. Greswell remarks, "If I can form any reasonable con- 
jecture about the sentiments of the advocates of the Mil- 
lennium, in ancient times, from such of their writings as have 
come down to us, — if I know any thing of the opinions of 
the most rational and sober-minded of its supporters still, — 
and, in particular, if I am not altogether ignorant of my own 
views and expectations concerning it, — I cannot hesitate to 
affirm that they are very greatly mistaken, or very grossly 
pervert and misrepresent our conceptions of the nature and 
purposes of this dispensation, who charge us with entertaining 
a sensual and carnal idea of the kingdom of Christ, and at- 
tempt to raise a prejudice against us on that account." 

And who that has himself any practical acquaintance with 
the spirituality of religion will ever think of charging Mede, 
or Spener, or Bengel, or Roos, or Durant, or Farmer, or 
Lange, or Goodwin, or Bickersteth, with denying that grace 
must rule in the heart, or with teaching that the world to 
come is to have its joys made up of eating and drinking and 
carnal gratifications, because they anticipated a future mani- 
festation of the kingdom on the earth, to which all that has 
been thus far is merely preparatory ? Nor would it be diffi- 
cult to name scores, if not hundreds, of men now living, who 
are acknowledged to be among the most faithful, pure, and 
useful Christians on the face of the earth, to whom the Mil- 
lenarian faith presents the dearest hopes they cherish. 

It was once remarked by Thomas Hartley that, "Among 

the many arts practised in order to bring any truth into dis- 
W 29 



338 THE LAST TIxMES. 

credit, none :is more popular than that of exhibiting it to 
public view jcined with the absurd tenets of some that have 
espoused it, and which is not improperly called dressing up 
truth in a fool's coat on purpose to make it appear ridiculous; 
and this often succeeds with the undiscerning vulgar, who 
judge only by the outward appearance of things." It is this 
art which has been practised for the most part by the enemies 
of Millenarian doctrine, and that, too, with a goodly degree of 
success. It is to be hoped that the time is at hand when men 
will deal with the subject with some degree of that candor 
which it really deserves. 



Note F. Fifth Discourse, p. 121. 

ON THE DECLARATION OF THE SAVIOR (JOHN Xvii. 36) THAT HIS 
KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. 

There is no passage more dwelt upon by anti-Millenarians 
in opposition to our doctrines than this. Indeed, it is about 
the only text on which any show of scriptural objection can 
be raised. But it is, after all, nothing but show. If they 
take it to prove that the kingdom of Christ is within, — a reign 
over the heart by the Holy Spirit, — we maintain this equally 
with themselves. If they take it to prove that the kingdom 
of Christ is not of earthly derivation, or of an earthly nature, 
this, too, we hold with unyielding firmness, insisting that it is 
neither derived, constituted, nor administered after the fashion 
of the kingdoms of this world. If they take it to prove that 
the kingdom of Christ is confined and limited to the Spirit's 
rule in men's hearts, and that it consequently is and always 
will be without outward manifestation and visible form, we 
dispute that there is any thing of the sort in the passage, and 
insist that they have the Scriptures everywhere against them. 



THE KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD. 339 

That kingdom even now embraces the organized Church, 
which is a visible assembly, with outward sacraments and 
bonds of union, and with external manifestations as real as 
any of this world's kingdoms. And if they take it to prove 
that the kingdom of Christ is not located on earth, they un- 
dertake to make it prove a manifest falsehood. Take the 
kingdom spoken of in what sense we please, whether as Christ 
reigning in the heart by his Spirit, or as Christ operating for 
the salvation of men through the administrations and ordi- 
nances of his Church, its location is in this world, and in 
none other. Nor do the Savior's words imply, by any fair, 
grammatical construction, that his kingdom ever will be 
located otherwise than upon the earth. It may not be with- 
out service to quote here a few authorities on the subject. 

Tholuck makes this criticism : — " He does not contradict the 
assertion that he has a kingdom ; nay, he speaks of his king- 
dom and of his servants. If we are to affirm any thing with 
regard to the kingdom of Christ, we must not content our- 
selves with merely saying that the kingdom of Christ is not 
of this world ; we must add that, although his kingdom is 
not of this world, yet it is nevertheless in this world, and will 
advance more and more in this world. Yes, God be praised ! 
we can say, with joy, that although the Lord's kingdom is not 
of this world, still it is in this world, and, so long as the world 
exists, it will never pass out OP it." — Light from the 
Cross, p. 171, in loc. 

Stier has this observation: — "This renunciation is by no 
means to be put in opposition to the true prophecies of the 
kingdom of the Son of man, to whom already power is given, 
and whose kingdom finally will bring all other power to 
naught: it is very far from renouncing the world, and all 
external and earthly manifestation and confirmation of his 
heavenly power. It does not, as superficial expositors dream, 
(here and verse 37,) refer the kingdom of Christ to the in- 



340 THE LAST TIMES. 

visible region of the heart. Had lie not said already before 
Caiaphas, 'From this time forth ye shall see him coming in 
his power' ? The observation of Yon Gerlach is good, that a 
purely internal dominion which did not control and subordi- 
nate to itself the external, would be no true kingdom, and 
would have none of the reality of dominion." — Words of 
Jesus, in loc. 

So, too, Krummacher : — " He does not deny that he came to 
establish a kingdom : he only repels the groundless suspicion 
of his having intended to overthrow the existing authorities 
and to establish a new political state. He does not say that 
his kingdom makes no claim eventually to the government 
of the whole world, or he would have denied more than was 
consistent with the truth. He only asserts that his kingdom 
was not of this world, and clearly intimates, by laying the 
emphasis on the word ' this/ that another acwv than the pre- 
sent would certainly see his delegates seated on thrones, and 
his word and gospel the magna charta of all nations." — 
Suffering Savior, p. 248. 

Trench also describes the point of meaning to be, " not the 
unfolding of any powers which already existed in the world, — 
a kingdom not rising, as those other kingdoms, ' out of the 
ea.rth,' but a new power brought into the world from above/' 
On the Parables, p. 160. 

Alford also interprets the declaration as conveying "no 
denial that this kingdom is over this world, — but that it is to 
be established by this world's power." 

"Christus sagt nicht: Mein Reich ist nicht hienieden, 
sondern : Nicht von dannen." — Lutherus Eedivivus, p. 386. 

Edward King says of this declaration of the Savior, " I 
might be translated, or at least should be paraphrased, My 
kingdom is not derived from any powers or authority in this 
world." — Morsels of CriL, vol. 1, p. 421. 



THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST. 341 

Note G-. Seventh Discourse, p. 179. 

THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST — IS IT LOUIS NAPOLEON ? 

That there is to be some great, blaspheming, despotic mili- 
tary power, under which the Roman Empire is to be in some 
sense revived, which is to exercise a most cruel tyranny over 
the whole civilized world, and which is to lead forth the com- 
bined armies of nations to a scene of unprecedented disaster 
in connection with the reappearance of Christ, is plainly 
taught in the prophecies of Daniel, Paul, and John, and held 
by all the best interpreters of the prophetic word. It is 
this power which is styled by eminence " The Antichrist, 
that denieth the Father and the Son." It is also the growing 
belief of expositors that this power is the Napoleonic head- 
ship of the Roman dominion, especially as that headship has 
been revived in the present Emperor of the French, Napo- 
leon III. The general grounds upon which this belief rests 
may be stated somewhat as follows : — 

1. He answers to the description which makes this great 
blaspheming power the septimo-eighth head of the seven- 
headed and ten-horned beast of the great Roman dominion. 
The seven heads of this beast were not only "seven moun- 
tains," upon which the centre of Roman dominion was seated, 
but also "seven Kings" or regencies. These seven regencies 
are the seven distinct forms under which the Roman domi- 
nion was embodied and administered. These were kings, 
consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, and emperors. 
Of these, "five" had "fallen" when John wrote; one was, 
and one was " not yet come." That which then was, was the 
Roman imperial, which in one way or another, as history 
shows, continued down to Francis II. of Austria, a.d. 1806, 
when the power of Europe was seized by Napoleon Bonaparte, 
and the old imperial succession was destroyed. In this Napo- 

29* 



342 THE LAST TIMES. 

Ieon, then, a new and distinct head was set up, whilst there 
was yet such an assumption by him of the old iron crown, and 
such an acknowledgment of his authority by the Pope of 
Rome in his coronation, that it was still to be regarded 
as the same old Roman dominion simply passed to another 
form or head. He was, therefore, that seventh head which 
was to come. "And when he is come," said the angel, 
"he must continue a short space." The period of Napoleon's 
imperial rule was eleven years, when he was overthrown, and 
his empire destroyed forever, as it appeared. But it was not 
effectually destroyed. He is described in the vision as " the 
beast that was, and is not, and yet is" Though "as it were 
wounded to death, his deadly wound was healed." The Napo- 
leonic headship ceased with the fall of Napoleon I., but it 
was soon marvellously revived in his nephew, and now is 
again, in the present Napoleon III. He is "of the seven" by 
his relation to the Napoleon family, and by his assumption 
of the same dynasty and principles represented by Napoleon 
I.; but the manner of his coming into power, and various 
peculiarities in the constitution of his dominion, present 
features of distinctness from his uncle's headship, showing 
that he is in some sense also a headship of his own kind. He 
is consequently the seventh, and yet in some sense the eighth, 
so answering to the description of a septimo-eighth head or 
embodiment of the great Roman dominion, which was to be 
the Antichrist. (See Faber's Napoleon III.) 

2. Napoleon III. corresponds also with the prophetic por- 
trait of the Antichrist in his prowess, ambition, and military 
power. In Rev. xiii. 3, 4, as soon as the beast's wounded 
head is healed, he appears as the wonder and astonishment of 
the world j which has been very remarkably verified in the 
surprise and amazement which the career of Louis Napoleon 
has excited since 1852. And with 750,000 trained troops, 
furnished with the best arms in the world, with a fleet 



THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST. 343 

of iron-clad war-steamers inferior perhaps to none now afloat, 
and with his deep and inscrutable policy and ambition, it may 
very well be said of him, at this moment, " Who is like unto 
the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Nor is it 
difficult to anticipate, from the present condition of the world, 
and his position in it, that it would not take any great length 
of time to fulfil the words of the prophet, in which it is said 
that " power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, 
and nations." — (Kev. xiii. 7.) His rapid ascension to power 
and dominion have startled the world, and his influence and 
authority are augmenting still in all quarters of the globe. 
He is at this moment the most daring, the most ambitious, 
the most powerful, and the most dangerous man on earth. 
The Crimean War put him at the head of European affairs. 
His interference in the war of Austria and Sardinia shows 
with what a controlling hand he is competent to dispose of 
the disputes of nations. His annexation of Savoy and Nice 
to France is another illustration of his growing pre-eminence. 
The recent war with China, and the French occupation of 
Syria, have planted his power in Asia. The north of Africa 
is his. Mexico seems ready to fall into his hands. The de- 
feat of his uncle at Waterloo he regards it his solemn destiny 
to avenge. He is now virtually the possessor of Home. The 
prospect is that he will presently have the Jews completely 
enlisted in his favor. Jerusalem is at this moment stirring 
throughout its desolations under the influences of his power. 
Palestine seems as if preparing to open her gates to him. 
Grreece, now in revolution, seems to be ready to accept a 
member of his family as her king. His monetary resources 
are greater than those of any power on earth. His desire to 
interfere in the terrific schism which has occurred in the 
United States needs only to await the opportunity to put the 
tottering Eepublic under his control. All of which would 
seem to foreshadow, as clearly as may be, the fulfilment to 



344 



THE LAST TIMES. 



him of what is written in Rev. xvii. 13, 17, xiii. 7 ; and Dan 
xi. 36-39. 

3. His name also has peculiarities which appear to fall in 
very remarkably with the predictions that apply to this last 
great scourge of the world. It is argued, by some, that the 
king spoken of in Rev. ix. 11 is also in some sense this wilful 
king of the last days. And it is there said that "his name 
in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue 
Apollyon" — -or, as frequently written, mzotewv (apoleori), — a 
name precisely identical with Napoleon, less one letter. 
In Rev. xiii. 18, it is written, " Here is wisdom. Let him 
that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for 
it is the number of a man ; and his number is six hundred 
threescore and six." And in Rev. xiii. 17 and xv. 2 
this number is further described as "the number of his 
name;" which is usually taken to mean the number in nume- 
rical value of the letters which compose his name. And, 
giving the name Louis in its Latin form, Ludovicus, we have, 
as the total numerical value of the letters, 666. So, too, by 
putting the name Napoleon in its Greek form, as if inscribed 
upon a monument, NaizoXeovri, the total numerical value of the 
letters is again 666. Thus : 

N stands 
a 

TZ 

o 
X 

6 
O 

V 

T 

Total, 666 l 

Total, 666 

So also the two names together, in Greek, Aois Nanoteov, in 

the same way contain the same characteristic number, 666. 



L 


stands 


for 


50 


V 


« 


u 


5 


D 


u 


u 


500 





tt 


u 





V 


a 


a 


5 


I 


a 


a 


1 


c 


a 


u 


100 


V 


CI 


u 


5 


s 


a 


a 






for 


50 


a 


1 


a 


80 


a 


70 


a 


30 


u 


5 


u 


70 


u 


50 


u 


300 


a 


10 



THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST. 345 

It is true that this number can be found in other names, 
and in some which apply to this beast in some of its earlier 
forms ; but it is very remarkable that this number should be 
found in both names of the present French emperor, in whom, 
if these prophecies do apply to him, is to be concentred every 
form and attribute of all the antichrists which have been 
before him. 

4. The connection of the Antichrist with the apostate Church 
power, first supporting it, using it, and then despoiling it alto- 
gether, also seems to point to Napoleon III. as the man. When 
yet President of France, in 1849, he sent French troops to 
support the Pope in Rome, and has not withdrawn them to 
this day. Yet of late he has been allowing all sorts of damage 
to befall the papacy, is at present in disagreement with the 
Church authorities, and in various ways is giving symptoms 
which look greatly like preparation for that part of prophecy 
which says that the beast, with his ten subordinate kings, 
shall "hate the whore, and make her desolate, and naked, 
and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." He has also per- 
mitted a pamphlet to be issued in which it is proposed that 
the papal power should be given him, and the political and 
religious sovereignties united in his own person, — a thing not 
unlikely to be consummated at no distant day; which would 
fully invest him with the very attributes which underlie the 
predictions of Paul in 2 Thess. ii. 8-12. 

5. The mysteriousness which characterizes him, his taci- 
turn disposition, his protestations and general policy, and 
his deep cunning and sagacity, also seem to answer to the 
predictions made concerning the Antichrist. In Daniel viii. 
we find a vision of a little horn, which waxed exceeding 
great, — the Mohammedan power, perhaps, but ultimately the 
Antichrist, — who (in verses 23-25) is described as u a king 
of fierce (shameless, imperturbable, unawed, impenetrable) 
countenance, and understanding dark sentences" who "shall 



346 THE LAST TIMES. 

destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and snail 
destroy the mighty and the holy people," and "through his 
policy also shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and mag- 
nify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many/' 
and "shall also stand up against the Prince of princes." 
He is also described as the king who "shall do according to 
his will, and shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above 
every god." Nor can it fail to strike the reader how well this 
language applies to a man of whom a personal friend of his, 
who laboriously attempted an analysis of his character, has 
said, "Frigidly affable, and repulsively polite, he avoided 
either offence or familiarity, but seemed instinctively to coil 
up his nature from observation. In phrase and demeanor 
all that became his birth, still the man was perfectly inacces- 
sible. . . . There was much of peculiarity, much of contrast, 
abstract yet vigilant, inquisitive in every thing, but studiously 
incommunicative, diligent in acquiring all men's knowledge, 
retentive of his own, cold and impassive, but full of latent 
energy, cautious in decision, but, having decided, prompt, 
rapid, and impetuous. Almost intuitive in grasping oppor- 
tunity or detecting weakness; improved by study, steeled by 
adversity, disciplined for every vicissitude of fortune, he has 
inestimable qualifications for his own position. . . . Marvel- 
lous as his character appears at present, it is, in my judgment, 
as yet very partially developed. The reserve, however, in 
which he habitually shrouds himself may not now be vio- 
lated. . . . Few can see, in the taciturn recluse, the talents, 
attainments, and accomplishments which he undoubtedly 
possesses." — (Phillips on Napoleon III.) Madden also very 
pointedly, confirms this well-drawn portrait, and further 
gays that "This man-mystery, the depths of whose dupli- 
city no (Edipus has yet sounded, is a problem even to those 
who surround him. I watched his pale, corpse-like, imper- 
turbable features, not many months since, for a period of 



THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST. 347 

three hours. I saw 80,000 men in arms pass before him, and 
I never observed a change in his countenance, or an expres- 
sion in his look, which would enable the bystander to say 
whether he was pleased or otherwise at the stirring scene that 
was passing before him on the very spot where Louis XVI. 
was put to death. He did not speak to those around him 
except at very long intervals, and then with an air of non- 
chalance, of ennui, and eternal occupation with self." "Dark, 
mysterious, impenetrable, inscrutable in his designs/' says 
the author of Armageddon ; " concealing every passion of his 
heart within the innermost depths of his soul ; of great per- 
sonal courage and inflexible will, conjoined with cool delibe- 
ration and consummate prudence; entirely devoid, apparently, 
of any real religion or moral principle ; impelled, guided, pro- 
tected, as he announces himself to be, by his uncle's shade; 
with the subtlety of that 'more subtle than any beast of the 
field/ has he hitherto defeated all his opponents, and reached 
by craft a pinnacle which his uncle could only attain by tha 
sword. Striking not until his quarry be certain, or (as the 
author of the Last Vials well expresses it) never uncoiling 
himself to seize his prey until sure of his victim ; daily in- 
creasing in power and influence over the nations ; and bring- 
ing the eyes of an astonished world to contrast with wonder 
his past and present career; all in relation to him seems to 
be after a superhuman working that none can fathom." 

6. His rise from obscurity, the contempt in which all men 
once held him, the manner of his ascent to the throne and 
his great dominion, as well as his remarkable control of the 
precious metals, are also of a character answering to the pre- 
dictions concerning the Antichrist. He was described in 
Dan. xi. 21 as "a vile person [one despised], to whom they 
shall not give the honor of the kingdom ; but he shall come 
in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries." . . Also it 
was further said "he shall have power over the treasures of 



348 THE LAST TIMES. 

gold and silver." And before Napoleon III. obtained the 
emperorship, there was hardly a man in the world upon whom 
more contemptuous epithets and opinions were passed than 
upon him. He was supposed to be without understanding, 
an idiotic dreamer, as short of brains as he was of friends and 
means. But from that obscurity and contempt he has risen 
to imperial power; and the kingdom which no one would 
have been willing to confer upon him, he yet managed, in the 
name of liberty and democracy, and with daring adventures 
in the name of peace and the people, to obtain and hold. 
It is also a marvellous fact that he has not only succeeded 
in securing all the money needed for the extraordinary cost 
of carrying on his government and immense improvements, 
but in the years 1855, 56, and 57, he coined more gold than 
both England and the United States together. 

7. It would also seem to be impossible for another power, 
such as the Antichrist is to be, to arise and mature itself in 
the unexpired time which chronological prophecies place be- 
tween the present and the great consummation. A dozen 
different lines of calculation seem to converge and run out 
within the limits of the next ten years, each of which is sup- 
posed to extend to the epoch of the consummation. Seven 
years, or three and a half years at least, is the period in which 
the Antichrist, as such, is to continue; which would leave only 
some half a dozen years for the incoming, establishment, and 
maturement of the predicted power, of which the earth as yet 
has no signs apart from Napoleon III. 

Without undertaking, therefore, to decide positively that 
Louis Napoleon is the personal Antichrist of the last days, we 
have no hesitation in saying that we are strongly inclined, 
with some of the most sober and learned of prophetic expo- 
sitors, to believe that he is. Events will very soon show 
whether this supposition is correct or not. And one of the 
first tests will be the formation of a league or covenant be- 



THE TWO STAGES OE THE TRANSLATION. 349 

tween Napoleon III. and the Jews, in which they will accept 
him as their great protector and help in their reinstate- 
ment into their land and the restoration of their temple ser- 
vices. When this covenant is once made, it will then be but 
seven years to the descent of Christ in the clouds of heaven, 
and the great consummation. (See Dan. ix. 27; xi. 23.) 
"Blessed is he that watcheth!" 



Note H. Seventh Discourse, pp. 108, 181. 

ON THE TWO STAGES OF THE TRANSLATION. 

The opinion that there is to be a duality in the translation 
of the saints (as also in the resurrection of them that sleep in 
Christ) seems to me to have strong supports in the Scrip- 
tures. 

1. In the description of the great woes which are to attend 
the close of the present dispensation, there is a command 
given to "watch and pray always," that we " may be accounted 
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and 
to stand before the Son of man." It is here implied that 
there will be persons living when these troubles come, who, by 
peculiar earnestness in their expectancy of the Lord's return, 
shall obtain entire exemption from them • and that this ex- 
emption will consist in some peculiar introduction into the 
immediate presence of the Son of man, that is, by being 
caught up to him in the clouds. Something of the same sort 
is intimated in Isaiah xxvi. 20, where God's peculiar people 
are represented as called up into some peaceful pavilion, where 
they are at rest while the waves of divine indignation are 
rolling over the world. But in Rev. vii. & -14 we read of a 
great multitude of the redeemed, who are represented as 
having had to suffer these very woes, and as having reached 

30 



350 THE LAST TIMES. 

heaven through them. It is specifically said, u These are they 
which came out of the great tribulation" — not out of tribula- 
tion in general, but some Stmcjfic and pre-eminent tribulation, — 
€x T7)q Okiipsioq tt)<; (leyaX^jVm^ofthe tribulation, the great one f 
— which we find described in Dan. ix. 27, xii. 1 ; Matt. xxiv. 
21, 22 ; Luke xxi. 24. Now, as some are accounted worthy 
to escape these things, and escape by their removal to the 
presence of Christ, and as others only reach their places be- 
fore the throne of God by passing through the great tribula- 
tion, there must needs be two stages in the removal of the 
Church, that is, two distinct translations. 

2. Again, in Rev. xiv. 1-5, we read of a certain number 
of the " redeemed from among men," who have reached the 
heavenly state in the presence of the Lamb, and who are 
called " the first fruits unto God." There is a difference be- 
tween the first fruits and the general harvest, not exactly in 
kind, but in the order of their gathering, and in the purposes 
to which they are applied. There is always an interval be- 
tween the gathering and lifting up of the one, and the general 
reaping of the other. And, answering in this respect to the 
first fruits described in the first part of the chapter, we have 
an account of the reaping of the great harvest in a subsequent 
part, (verses 15, 16.) Those that constitute the first fruits, 
of course, cannot be the same as those who constitute the 
general harvest. The one is a distinct class from the other, 
and is separated from it especially as to the precise time of 
the gathering, whilst, nevertheless, the gathering is of the 
same kind in both. And as both classes are made up of per- 
sons redeemed from among men, and " caught up in the clouds 
to meet the Lord in the air," we must conclude that there is 
to be a twofold translation. 

3. There seems also to be an intimation that even Christ's 
coming is to possess two distinct stages, — which would again 
correspond with the idea of a twofold translation. He is to 



ON THE TWO STAGES OF THE TRANSLATION. 351 

come "as a thief in the night j" but he is also to come "in 
the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory," " taking 
vengeance on them that know not God/' and to be "admired 
in all them that believe." In the one case he is seemingly 
invisible, removing as by stealth those who are waiting and 
ready, and fulfilling those words of his, "In that night there 
shall be two in one bed ; the one shall be taken and the other 
left," &c. In the other case, "every eye shall see him," and 
he rides forth upon his celestial chariot as a mighty con- 
queror, crushing down before him all his foes both great and 
small, and gathering to himself the great totality of them that 
believe on his name. Both these comings, or stages of his 
manifestation, cannot occur at one and the same time, and so 
would involve a twofold translation. 

4. To this also agrees the account given in Matt. xxiv. 42- 
51 ; where we read of a servant who is " faithful and wise," 
whom his Lord finds at his post, and at once receives to 
blessedness ; but also of another servant, as really a servant 
as the first, who is deficient in fidelity and worldly in his 
temper, and whom his Lord when he comes severely punishes 
(8r/oro{j.e(i)) by assigning him a portion with hypocrites, who 
are to suffer the great tribulation. The words do not at all 
imply that the one is saved and the other lost, but simply 
that the one reaches blessedness at once when the Lord 
comes, whilst the other, not being prepared by proper watch- 
fulness, is "left," and punished with such temporal judg- 
ments as are then to befall the earth, and only saved "so as 
by fire," at a subsequent period. 

5. So, too, the parable of the ten virgins, (Matt. xxv. 1-13.) 
Those virgins are the whole company of the saints, and are 
all true Christians and real believers ; but only a portion of 
them go in with Christ to the marriage, whilst the rest are 
"left" to improve their virtues under the afflictions attending 
a loss of their place among the first fruits and Church of the 



352 THE LAST TIMES. 

•*» 

first-born, and to receive their redemption at some later stage 
of the Savior's manifestation. — See my Discourses on The 
Parable of the Ten Virgins. 

6. So, too, in the parable of the pounds, (Luke ix. 11- 
27,) we have some faithful and industrious servants who im- 
prove their trusts well, and who when the Lord returns are 
at once welcomed into the sublime rewards of their exertions. 
But there is another class, so timid and unfruitful in their 
occupancy that, when the Lord comes, they are not honored 
as the others, but stripped of the trusts they had received, and 
left to suffer for their unfaithfulness. They are not lost. 
They are not slain, as the malignant " citizens" who would not 
acknowledge Christ's rule over them. They simply lose their 
rewards, and g their places among those who obtain rulership, 
and are made to endure the tribulation judgments. 

7. To the same effect is the 12th of Revelation. We there 
read of "the woman's seed," which may be taken first as 
Christ himself, but, for that reason, as the whole body of his 
people upon earth. In verse 5, this seed, as intended to "rule 
the nations," is represented as "caught up unto God, and to 
his throne." Here, then" is one ascension. But in verse 17 
we still read of a "remnant" — lotno<; — a remaining portion 
— of this same woman's seed, which must certainly denote 
Christian people ; for they are such as "keep the command- 
ments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," and 
are still upon earth suffering the dragon's wrath. And as all 
must needs be glorified in due time, there must be a second 
translation to embrace these. They suffer additional persecu- 
tions to their brethren, and so are not taken at the same time 
with them, but are saved only by passing through the great 
tribulation, which the more devout and watchful escape by 
means of an earlier translation. Compare also Matt. xxiv. 
28, 31, and Luke xvii. 34, 37. 

8. The fourth and fifth chapters of Revelation also evi- 



ON THE TWO STAGES OP THE TRANSLATION. 353 

dence the same thing. A scene in heaven is there depicted. 
The elders and living creatures in that vision must represent 
saints in the glorified state. They address a song to Christ, in 
which they say to him, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
us to Glod by thy blood." We know of no redeemed by 
Christ's blood but men. They were not, therefore, heavenly 
orders or angels proper, but ransomed human beings from the 
earth. Nor were they the saints who rose with Christ; for 
those appear to have been Jews : these are " out of every kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people, and nation." They are also 
already " kings and priests," and have their " crowns," — which 
could not be said of the saints of the old dispensation, for 
they have not yet received the promises. The corona- 
tion time is at the coming and consummation. (Heb. xi. 
13, 40; 2 Tim. iv. 8; 1 Pet. v. 4; Col. iii. 4). The vision 
must, therefore, refer to a state of things in the heavenly state 
of the glorified saints in connection with what is said in 
1 Thess. iv. 17. It is remarkable, however, that whilst these 
are in the heavenly glorified state, and have already received 
their crowns, the preliminary judgments of the seals are only 
about to begin. And as the great tribulation occurs only in 
connection with the opening of these seals, the translation by 
which they are brought to their rewards must precede the 
great tribulation; whilst, according to Matt. xxiv. 29-31, 
there is another gathering of the elect " immediately after the 
tribulation ;" thus making two stages in the translation. Com- 
pare Ps. xxvii. 5, 6, xxxi. 20, xxxii. 6, 7, xlv. 14. 

The doctrine of the Scriptures seems to be, that only those 
who are devoutly looking and waiting for the Savior's return 
shall be taken at first, whilst all others are left to suffer the 
great tribulation, which will continue at least three years and 
a half. See Heb. ix. 28 ; and Rev. xii. 13, 14, xiii. 5, xi. 3. 
X 30* 



354 THE LAST TIMES. 

Note I. Tenth Discourse, p. 253. 

LUTHER ON THE MILLENNIUM. 

The authority of Luther is sometimes quoted as decidedly 
against all expectations of a Millennium yet to come. — (See 
Dr. Seyffarth's Chiliasm Critically Examined?) The evidence 
relied upon for this representation of the great Reformer is 
taken from the marginal notes to Luther's German Bible, 
Rev. x. 2, 3, where he is made to say that "the thousand 
years must have commenced at the time the Apocalypse was 
written; mainly because the Turk came a thousand years 
after that time." Unsatisfactory as this quotation is, it is the 
only passage from the works of Luther which anti-millenarians 
have been able to find by which to array the Reformer on 
their side. The worth of it in such a connection may be esti- 
mated from the following observations. 

Concerning these marginal notes in general, we have to 
say, with Fabricius and others, that they have not always 
been the same in the various editions of Luther's German 
Bible ; that many of them were changed, even by himself; 
that manifold alterations were made in them before, and still 
more after, his death ; that it is uncertain to what extent they 
are to be attributed to Luther ; and that, whilst some of them 
furnish much light and information, there are others of which 
" it must rather be said that they savor of erroneous opinions 
once held by Luther, which, in justice to him, must be re- 
ceived with reference to the condition of the times in which 
they were uttered; on which account liberty has long ago 
been taken to alter very materially some of them, as also to 
muster them out." — See Fabricius's Centifolium, pp. 168, 169; 
also Walch's Luther, preface to vol. xii. ; also Irmischer's 
Luther's Werke, vol. 64, preface. 

As to the particular note to which reference has been made, 



LUTHER ON THE MILLENNIUM. 355 

whilst it may have come from Luther, we have to say that it 
was not contained in the edition of 1522, neither in the edi- 
tion of 1524. Besides, it relates to a department of inquiry 
in which Luther elsewhere expresses himself as for the most 
part doubtful. In his preface to his little treatise on Chro- 
nology, he says, "It matters nothing to me, indeed, whether 
this little book shall stand or not. Neither do I inquire with 
much anxiety whether others shall look with favor upon 
these reckonings or not." — (See Waleh's Luther, xiv. 1111.) 
Whilst at the end of that same treatise he distinctly avows 
himself a believer in the tradition of the house of Elias, 
which certainly puts a millennial Sabbath at the end of the 
six thousand years from the creation of Adam. 

Dr. Hengstenberg also pronounces it "an over-estimate 
of the authority of Luther" to assign this note any value in 
the direction for which anti-millenarians have cited it. If it 
really gives Luther's opinion at the time, it was simply an 
opinion, bearing upon its face the plain evidences of having 
been very loosely made up, and one upon which its author 
laid no particular stress, grounded no doctrine, placed no con- 
fident reliance, and actually contradicted in other portions of 
his writings. 

It does not appear that Luther ever directly took up the 
subject of the Millennium and its related doctrines in connec- 
tion. They were not much involved, at least not much 
brought to the surface, in those controversies and points of 
exposition which monopolized his attention and energies. His 
was the sublime work of unchaining the simple word of God, 
and the establishment of the great doctrines of the right of 
private judgment and justification by faith. His department 
was theology and soterology, rather than eschatology and pro- 
phecy. And though the greatest of mere men, and next to 
the aposties in his own sphere, he is about the last man among 
great theo?ogians to whom to betake ourselves for a guide 



356 THE LAST TIMES 

in the interpretation of the Apocalypse, — a book which he 
evidently had not at all mastered. The great mass even 
of his most ardent admirers and followers have long since 
agreed to surrender his Apocalyptical views as in many points 
untenable, and as given by himself in a way which deprives 
them altogether of the weight which attaches to his authority 
an other subjects. And when we have laid aside this note 
on Rev. xx. 2, 3, we find his writings generally far more in 
harmony with the views and spirit of millenarian interpreta- 
tion than in favor of those who would fain crush us with the 
majesty of his great name. 



Note K. Eleventh Discourse, p. 269. 

THE SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD. 

TEARS 

From the creation of Adam to the birth of Seth 130 

"Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and 
begat a son, . . . and called his name Seth." — 
Gen. v. 3. 

From the birth of Seth to the birth of Enos 105 

" Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat 
Enos."— Gen. v. 6. 

From the birth of Enos to the birth of Cainan 90 

"Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan." — 
Gen. v. 9. 
From the birth of Cainan to the birth of Mahalaleel. . 70 
"Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahala- 
leel."— Gen. v. 12. 
From the birth of Mahalaleel to the birth of Jared.... 65 
" Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat 
Jared."— Gen. v. 15. 



SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD. 357 

TEARS. 

Brought forward *. 460 

From the birth of Jared to' the birth of Enoch 162 

" Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and 
he begat Enoch/' — Gen. v. 18. 
From the birth of Enoch to the birth of Methuselah... 65 
"Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Me- 
thuselah."— Gen. v. 21. 
From the birth of Methuselah to the birth of Lamech, 187 
"Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven 
years, and he begat Lamech." — Gen. v. 25. 

From the birth of Lamech to the birth of Noah 182 

"Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, 
and begat a son : and he called his name 
Noah."— Gen. v. 28. 

From the birth of Noah to the flood 600 

"Noah was six hundred years old when the flood 
of waters was upon the earth." — Gen. vii. 6. 

The duration of the flood 1 

" It came to pass, in the six hundred and first year, 
in the first month, the first day of the month, 
the waters were dried up." — Gen. viii. 13. 

From the flood to the birth of Arphaxad 2 

" Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Ar- 
phaxad two years after the flood." — Gen. xi. 10. 

From the birth of Arphaxad to the birth of Salah 35 

"Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat 
Salah."— Gen. xi. 12. 

From the birth of Salah to the birth of Eber 30 

" Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber." — Gen. 
xi. 14. 

From the birth of Eber to the birth of Peleg 34 

"Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat 
Peleg."— Gen. xi. 16. 



358 THE LAST TIMES. 



YEABS. 



Brought forward 1758 

From the birth of Peleg to the birth of Reu 30 

"Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu." — Gen. 
xi. 18. 

From the birth of Reu to the birth of Serug 32 

" Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug." 
—Gen. xi. 20. 

From the birth of Serug to the birth of Nahor 30 

" Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor." — 
Gen. xi. 22. 

From the birth of Nahor to the birth of Terah 29 

u Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat 
Terah."— Gen. xi. 24. 

From the birth of Terah to his death 205 

"The days of Terah were two hundred and five 
years." — Gen. xi. 32. 
From the death of Terah to the covenant with Abraham, 2 
"Abraham . . . dwelt in Charran ; and from thence, 
when his father was dead, he removed him 
into this land, wherein ye now dwell." — Acts 
vii. 2-4. "Abram was seventy and five years 
old when he departed out of Haran [Charran]." 
— Gen xii. 4. Then intervene the events of 
his life, recorded in Gen. xii. 5 to Gen. xiv. 24 ; 
which could not have occupied less than two 
years. Then comes the Covenant in Gen. xv. 
1-21. 
From the making of the Covenant to the giving of the Law 430 
" The Covenant . . . the Law, that was four hun- 
dred and thirty years after, cannot disannul." 
—Gal. iii. 17. 
From the giving of the Law to the return of the spies. 1 

Compare Exodus xix. 1, and Numbers x. 11. 



SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY OP THE WORLD. 359 

TEARS. 

Brought forward 2517 

From the return of the spies to the apportionment of 

the land 45 

Compare Numbers xiv. and Joshua xiv. " And 

now the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, 

these forty and five years, even since the Lord 

spake this word unto Moses." — Joshua xiv. 10. 

From the apportionment of the land to Samuel the 

prophet 450 

" And after that he gave them judges about the 
space of four hundred and fifty years, until 
Samuel the prophet." — Acts xiii. 19, 20. 
From the raising up of Samuel to Saul's death 40 

"And afterwards they desired a king; and God 
gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of 
the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty 
years." — Acts xiii. 21. 
From the death of Saul to the end of David's reign.... 40 

"And when he had removed him [Saul], he raised 
up unto them David." — Acts xiii. 22. " And 
the days that David reigned over Israel were 
forty years : seven years reigned he in Hebron, 
and thirty and three years reigned he in Jeru- 
salem." — 1 Icings ii. 11. 
From David to the end of Solomon's reign 40 

"And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all 
Israel forty years." — 2 Chron. ix. 30. 
From Solomon's death to the end of Behoboam's reign, 17 

" So King Behoboam . . . reigned seventeen years 
in Jerusalem." — 2 Chron. xii. 13. 
From Behoboam to the end of Abijah's reign 3 

"Abijah . . . reigned three years in Jerusalem." 
—2 Chron. xiii. 1, 2. 



360 THE LAST TIMES. 

TEAKS. 

Brought forward 8152 

From Abijah to the death of King Asa 41 

"And Asa died in the one and fortieth year of his 
reign." — 2 Chron. xvi. 13. 

From Asa to the end of the reign of Jehoshaphat 25 

"He reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem." 
—2 Chron. xx. 31. 

From Jehoshaphat to the end of Jehoram's reign 8 

"He reigned in Jerusalem eight years." — 2 Chron. 
xxi. 20. 

From Jehoram to the end of Ahaziah's reign 1 

" He reigned one year in Jerusalem." — 2 Chron. 
xxii. 2. 

From Ahaziah to the end of Athaliah's usurpation 6 

"And he [Joash] was with them hid in the house 
of G-od six years : and Athaliah reigned." — 
2 Chron. xxii. 12. 
From Athaliah's usurpation to the end of Joash's reign, 40 
"Joash . . . reigned forty years in Jerusalem." — 
2 Chron. xxiv. 1. 

From Joash to the end of Amaziah's reign 29 

"He reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem." 
— 2 Chron. xxv. 1. 

From Amaziah to the end of Uzziah's reign 52 

" He reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem." — 
2 Chron. xxvi. 1. 

From Uzziah to the end of the reign of Jotham 16 

"He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem." — 2 
Chron. xxvii. 1. 

From Jotham to the death of Ahaz 16 

"Ahaz . . . reigned sixteen years." — 2 Chron. 
xxviii. 1. 
From Ahaz to the death of Hezekiah 29 



SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD. 361 



TEARS. 



Brought forward 3415 

"Hezekiah reigned nine and twenty years." — 2 
Chron. xxix. 1. 

From Hezekiah to the death of Manasseh 55 

"JManasseh reigned fifty and five years." — 2 Chron. 
xxxiii. 1. 

From Manasseh to the death of Amon 2 

" Amon . . . reigned two years." — 2 Chron. xxxiii. 21. 

From Amon to the death of Josiah 31 

" Josiah . . . reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty 
years." — 2 Chron. xxxiv. 1. 

From Josiah to the deposition of Jehoahaz 

"He reigned three months." — 2 Chron. xxxvi. 2. 
From the deposition of Jehoahaz to the death of Jehoia- 

chim 11 

" Jehoiachim . . . reigned eleven years." — 2 Chron. 
xxxvi. 5. 

From Jehoiachim to the deposition of Jehoiachin 

" Jehoiachin . . . reigned three months and ten 



— 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. 

From Jehoiachin to the captivity under Zedekiah 11 

"Zedekiah . . . reigned eleven years." — 2 Chron. 
xxxvi. 11. 
From the commencement of the Captivity to the decree 

of Cyrus 70 

"These nations shall serve the King of Babylon 
seventy years." — Jer. xxv. 11 : compare 2 
Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. 

From the decree of Cyrus to the birth of Christ 536 

Settled by the registers of the reigns of the Chal- 
dean and Persian kings furnished in the royal 
canon of Ptolemy, as agreed by all our best 

chronologists. 

31 



362 THE LAST TIMES. 

TEARS. 

Brought forward 4181 

From the birth of Christ to the present 1863 

From the creation of Adam to a.d. 1863 5994 

Still necessary to complete the period of 6000 6 

From the creation of man to the consummation 6000 

which, according to this reckoning, will be reached in 
1869 or '70, when the great Millennial sabbath, if 
these dates be correct, is to set in. Other versions of 
the Scriptures give some of them differently; but the 
common version, which we have followed, and which is 
the simple translation of the Hebrew, is quite as likely 
to be the genuine as any other, and is generally ac- 
cepted as the true. With our present knowledge of 
the subject, we are willing to abide by it. 



Note L. Eleventh Discourse, p. 281. 

PROBABLE DATES OP THE SEVEN LAST VIALS IN THEIR HISTORICAL 
FULFILMENT. 

YIAl. 

I. The French Revolution, from the meeting of the States- 
General to the death of the king: — a.d. 1789-1793. 

II. The Reign of Terror, from the death of the king to the 
establishment of the Directory: — a.d. 1793-1795. 

III. The Wars of the Directory, from the establishment of 
the Directory of Five to the First Consulship of Napo- 
leon I. :— a.d. 1795-1799. 



PROBABLE DATES OF THE SEVEN LAST VIALS. 363 

VIAL. 

IV. The scorching and blasting career of Napoleon L, from 
his appointment as First Consul to his abdication of the 
empire:— A.D. 1799-1814. 

Y. Judgments upon the throne and kingdom of the Beast, 
from the overthrow of Napoleon I. to the revolutions 
of 1848, the overthrow of the Orleans dynasty, and 
the rise of Napoleon III. :— a.d. 1814-1849. 

VI. Wane of Babylon 1 s resources and supports, and muster- 
ing of the nations for their final overthrow, from the 
rise of Louis Napoleon to the emperorship to the 
coming of Christ as the thief to remove the Church 
of the first-born, or wise virgins, from the earth to 
meet him in the air: — a.d. 1850 — 

VII. The great tribulation, unexampled earthquake, and 
judgment of the nations, from the full development 
of the personal Antichrist — most likely Napoleon III. 
— to the manifestation of Christ for his final destruc- 
tion and the binding of Satan ; estimated by numerous 
interpreters to date from a.d. 1865-6—1869-70. 

These vials, however, are to have their literal and complete 
fulfilment only within the last months before the descent and 
manifestation of Christ and his grand saint-army, which 
ushers in the time of blessedness for those who wait and come 
to that day — the day for which the aarth has been sighing 
for wellnigh six thousand years. 



364 



THE LAST TIMES. 



THE HAPPY DAWN. 

Light of the better morning, 

Shine down on me ! 
Sun of the brighter heaven, 

Bid darkness flee ! 
Thy warmth impart 
To this dull heart : 
Pour in thy light, 
And let this night 
Be turn'd to day 
By thy mild ray ! 

Lord Jesus, come ; 
Thou daystar, shine; 

Enlighten now 
This soul of mine ! 

Streaks of the better dawning, 

Break on my sight, 
Fringing with silver edges 

These clouds of night. 
Gems on morn's brow, 
Glow, brightly glow, 
Foretelling soon 
The ascending noon, 
Wakening this earth 
To second birth, 

When He shall come, 
To earth again, 

Who comes to judge, 
Who comes to reign. 



^nfltoritfea, Qwfa, and |ltf«pti}ss 

ON THE SUBJECTS TREATED IN THIS VOLUME, 

WITH SOME CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANALYSIS OP AUTHORITIES PROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

Dr. Auberlen has remarked that Jesus, and all his 
prophets and apostles, were Chiliasts. He has also said 
that the doctrine of the Millennial kingdom does not rest, as is 
often thought, upon an isolated passage in the Apocalypse, 
but is essential to a right understanding of the entire body of 
the Old Testament, and is the fundamental idea in the teach- 
ings of the New, in which the sum and substance of Mes- 
sianic prophecy is concentrated. That these are correct re- 
presentations, the following citations, carefully examined, will 
help to show : — 

1. REFERENCES IN THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES 
TO THE COMING AGAIN OF THE LORD JESUS IN PERSON TO THE 
EARTH. 

Matthew, xvi. 27, 28; xix. 28; xxiii. 39; xxiv. 3, 27, 30- 

31, 37-39, 42, 44, 48-51; xxv. 6, 10, 13, 19, 31; xxvi. 

64. Also, allusions with less specific directness, vi^lO; 

xiii. 24-30, 37-43, 47-50; xx. 20-23; xxi. 44; xxTh 11, 

30,44; xxvi. 29. 
Mark, viii. 38; xiii. 26, 27, 35-37; xiv. 61, 62. Also, by 

way of allusion, iv. 29; x. 35-40; xiv. 25. 

Si* 365 



366 THE LAST TIMES. 

Luke, ix. 26; xii. 36-40, 43, 45, 46; xiii. 35; xvii. 24, 30; 

xviii. 8; xix. 12, 13, 15; xxi. 27, 36; xxii. 69. Also, 

allusions, i. 32, 33; xiv. 10; xix. 38; xx. 18, 35; xxii. 

16, 18, 29. 
John, xiv. 3, 28 ; xvi. 16, 22. Also, allusions, i. 51 ; v. 25, 

27, 28; vi. 40, 44, 54; xi. 52; xii. 12, 13; xvii. 24; xxi. 

22, 23. 
Acts op the Apostles, i. 9-11 ; iii. 19-21. Also, allu- 
sions, i. 7; x. 42; xvi. 31; xx. 31, 32; xxiii. 6; xxiv. 

15,25; xxvi. 6. 7. 
Paul to the Romans, xi. 25, 26. Allusions, v. 2, 9, 17 ; 

vi. 8 ; viii. 17-25; xi. 11, 12; xiii. 11, 12; xvi. 20. 
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, i. 7, 8 ; iv. 

5; xi. 26; xv. 23, 24. Allusions, iii. 13; v. 5; vi. 2, 3; 

xiii. 10,12; xv. 28, 51,52. 
Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians, allusions, 

i. 14; iv. 17,18; v. 10; xi. 2. 
Paul to the G-alatians, allusions, iii. 29; v. 5. 
Paul to the Ephesians, allusions, i. 10, 14, 18; ii. 7; 

iv. 30; v. 27; vi. 18. 
Paul to the Philippians, i. 6, 10; ii. 16; iii. 20, 21; 

iv. 5. Allusions, ii. 10; iii. 11, 14. 
Paul to the Colossians, iii. 4. Allusions, i. 5 ; iii. 24. 
Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians, i. 10; 

ii. 19; iii. 13; iv. 13-18; v. 1-4, 23. Allusions, i. 3; ii. 

12; v. 9. 
Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, i. 6-11 ; 

ii. 1-8 ; iii. 5. Allusions, ii. 14, 16. 
Paul's Epistles to Timothy, 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 

8. Allusions, 2 Tim. i. 12 ; ii. 12 ; iv. 18. 
Paul's Epistle to Titus, ii. 13. 

Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, ix. 28 ; x. 37. Allu- 
sions, i. 13; ii. 5, 7, 8 ; iv. 9; viii. 10; x. 13, 25, 30; xi 

26, 35; xii. 14, 22, 27, 28; xiii. 14. 



AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 367 

James, v. 7, 8. Allusions, i. 18; ii. 5; v. 9. 

Peter's First Epistle, i. 7, 13 ; iv. 13 ; v. 4. Allusions, 
i. 3, 5, 11 j ii. 7; iii. 15; iv. 5, 7; v. 1, 10. 

Peter's Second Epistle, i. 16, 19; iii. 10, 11, 14. Allu- 
sions, i. 11 ; iii. 13. 

John's First Epistle, ii. 28; iii. 2. Allusions, iv. 17. 

Jude's Epistle, 14-16. Allusion, 24. 

John's Revelation, i. 7; ii. 25; iii. 3, 11; xvi. 15; xix. 
11-16; xx. 11; xxii. 7, 12, 20. Allusions, i. 1, 3, 19; 
ii. 26, 27; iii. 21; iv. 1; vi. 12-17; xi. 15, 17, 18; xii. 
5; xiv. 1-4; xv. 4; xvi 14; xx. 4; xxii. 10. 

2. BEFEEENCES TO SOME KEMAKKABLE PASSAGES ON THE SAME SUB- 
JECT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

Numbers, xxiv. 16-19. 

Job, xix. 25-27. 

Psalms, 1. 3-6 ; xcvi. 10-13 ; xcviii. 7-9 ; cii. 16. 

Isaiah, ii. 10-21; viii. 17; xxv. 9; xxvi. 21; xxxv. 4; xl. 

10; xlii. 13; lxii. 11; lxiv. 1-4; lxvi. 15. 
Jeremiah, xxiii. 5-7. 
Ezekiel, xxiii. 25-27. 
Daniel, vii. 13, 14; xii. 1, 2. 
Micah, i. 3, 4. 
Habakkuk, iii. 1-19. 
Zechariah, ii. 10-13 ; xiv. 3, 4. 
Malachi, iii. 1, 2. 

Sir Isaac Newton has said that "there is scarcely a pro- 
phecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ that doth not, 
in something or other, relate to his second coming."* The 
above are but a few out of many which refer directly to the 
subject. The allusions to it are multitudinous. 

* " Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel," <fcc, p. 132. 



368 THE LAST TIMES. 

3. REFERENCES TO THE OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF CHRIST'S RETURX 
TO THE EARTH. 

As regards his true people, — 

For the purpose of completing their redemption, Luke xxi. 

27, 28; Rom. viii. 19-23; Eph. iv. 30; Heb. ix. 28. 
For the purpose of raising them that sleep from their 

graves, 1 Cor. xv. 22, 23; 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16; Job 

xix. 25-27. 
For the purpose of changing those of them who shall be 

found living upon the earth from mortal to immortality, 

1 Cor. xv. 42-44, 51-54; Phil. iii. 20, 21. 

For the purpose of receiving them to himself in some 

aerial abode in glory, John xiv. 3; 1 Thess. iv. 15-17; 1 

John iii. 2 ; Rev. vii. 15. 
For the purpose of investing them with dominion and 

authority, according to their works, Matt. xvi. 27; 1 

Cor. iv. 5; 2 Cor. v. 10; Matt. xix. 28 ; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3 ; 

Luke xix. 13, 19 ; Rev. ii. 26, 27 ; xx. 4 ; Dan. vii. 21, 22. 
As regards his enemies, — 
To destroy their power, Isaiah xxiv. 21-23 ; xxv. 9-12 ; 

Rev. vi. 15, 16; Psalm ii. 1-9; Dan. vii. 9, 26; Isaiah 

xiv. 24-26. 
To destroy their armies, Zech. xiv. 3, 12-15; Rev. xvi. 

14; xix. 19-21; Isaiah xxxi. 8, 9; Jer. xxv. 33. 
To destroy their works, Matt. xv. 13 ; Jer. xxv. 37, 38. 
To hurl their leaders to perdition, Dan. vii. 11 ; Ezek- 

xxxviii. 22; 2 Thess. ii. 8-11; Rev. xvii. 11; xix. 20. 
To visit terrible retribution on all the disobedient, Luke 

xix. 27; 2 Thess. i. 8; Jude 15, 16; Rev. i. 7; xvi. 1- 

21; Isaiah lxiii. 1-4; lxvi. 15, 16; Dan. xii. 1; Joel iii. 

9-16; Ps. i. 4,5. 
To destroy utterly some of the great centres of wickedness, 

with their wicked inhabitants, Rev. xviii 2, 8, 18; 

2 Peter iii. 7. 



AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 369 

To bind and shut up Satan in the bottomless pit, Rev. xxx. 

1-3. 
As regards the Jewish people, — 

To deliver them from the power of the armies brought 

against them, Zech. xiv. 3-5, 12-16; Joel iii. 9-17; 

Micah iv. 6-13. 
To turn them from ungodliness to truth and righteousness, 

Rom. xi. 26, 27; Isaiah lix. 20, 21; Zech. xii. 10-14; 

xiii. 1, 2; Ezek. xxxvi. 23-39; Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. 
To unite and establish them in their own land, Ezek. 

xxxvii. 21, 22; xxxiv. 25-31; Isaiah xi. 11-13; lxvi. 

6-20; Micah iv. 3,4. 
To make Jerusalem the seat of universal empire, Micah 

iv. 1, 2; Isaiah lx. 14; Zech. xiv. 16 ; Luke xxi. 24; 

Isaiah xxiv. 23 ; Ps. ii. 6. 
To become their king forever, Rev. xi. 15; Isaiah xxiv. 

23; ix. 7; Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 25; Luke i. 32, 33; Jer. 

xxiii. 5, 6 ; Micah iv. 6, 7. 
To make them a blessing to all nations, Gen. xii. 3; xxii. 

18; Micah v. 7; Acts iii. 25, 26; Rom. xi. 15. 
As regards the world at large, — 

To subvert the empire of wickedness, Isaiah ii. 17-22; 

xxxi. 7; Ps. lxxii. 7, 8; Zech. xiv. 20, 21. 
To bring wars and violence to an end, Ps. xlvi. 9; Isaiah 

ii. 4; lx. 18; Micah iv. 3. 
To deliver the suffering creation from the bondage of cor- 
ruption, Rom. viii. 19-21; Isaiah xxxv. 1, 2, 6, 7, 9; 

Rev. xxii. 3. 
To establish his glorious kingdom upon the earth, Dan. ii. 

44; vii. 13, 14; Matt. xxv. 31; Isaiah ix. 7; Ezek. xxi. 

27; Zech. xiv. 8; Rev. xi. 15; Matt. vi. 9, 10. 
To make all things new, Isaiah lxv. 17-25; lxvi. 22; 

Matt. xix. 28; Acts iii. 20, 21; 2 Peter iii. 10-13; 

Rev. xxi. 1-5. 
Y 



370 THE LAST TIMES. 

4. REFERENCES TO THE COURSE OF THINGS IN THIS WORLD UNTH 
CHRIST COMES. 

As to the world in general, showing that wickedness will 

abound till then, Matt. xxiv. 6-15, 37; Mark xiii. 6-13; 

Luke xvii. 26-31; 1 Thess. v. 2, 3; 2 Tim. iii. 1-13; 

2 Peter iii. 3, 4, 10; Jude 18, 19. 
As to the great Gentile and antichristian powers, showing 

that they shall not be destroyed till then, Dan. ii. 26-45 

vii. 1-28; viii. 2-27; xi. 2-45; xii. 1-3; 2 Thess. ii. 3-12 

1 John ii. 18, 19; Rev. xiii. 1-18; xvi. 1-21; xvii. 1-18 

xviii. 1-24; xix. 1-21. 
As to the professed Church, showing that it will be under the 

cross and imperfect till then, Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36^42; 

xxv. 1-13; Mark xiii.; ix. 1-13; Acts xx. 29,30; 1 Tim. 

iv. 1-3; 2 Tim. iii. 1-5; 2 Peter ii. 1, 3, 12, 13, 17: Rev. 

ii. and iii; xiii. 8, 14, 16, 17. 

6. REFERENCES TO OUR DUTY WITH REGARD TO THE RETURN OF 
CHRIST. 

We are to watch for it, Matt. xxiv. 43-51; xxv. 13; Mark 

xiii. 33-37; Luke xii. 35-37; xxi. 34-36; 1 Thess. v. 4- 

6; Rev. xvi. 15. 
We are to pray for it, Matt. vi. 10 ; Luke xi. 2 ; Can. viii. 14 

Rev. xxii. 20. 
We are to wait patiently for it, 1 Thess. i. 10; 2 Thess. iii. 5 

1 Cor. i. 7; Isaiah xxv. 9. 
We are to expect it, and look for it continually, Phil. iii. 20 

Titus ii. 13; Heb. ix. 28; 2 Peter iii. 12, 14; Rev. i. 7. 
We are to love it, and anticipate it with cheerful and fond 

desire, 2 Tim. iv. 8; Rom. viii. 23; 2 Cor. v. 2; Titus 

ii. 13. 
We are to keep ourselves in constant readiness for it, Matt. 

xxiv. 44; Mark xiii. 33, 36; Luke xii. 35, 36, 40; xxi. 34 

Rom. xiii. 11-14; 1 Thess. v. 6; Rev. xvi. 15. 



AUTHORITIES PROM THE nOLY SCRIPTURES. 371 

We are to provide ourselves with oil in our vessels, Matt. xxv. 

1-13. 
To lay out our talents for the Master, Matt. xxiv. 14-30; 

Luke xix. 12-17. 
To be thoughtful of his afflicted people, Matt. xxv. 31-46. 
To have on the wedding garment, Matt. xxii. 11. 

6. BEFERENCES TO THE SIGNS "WHICH ARE TO MARK THE TIMES 
IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE SAVIOR'S RETURN. 

The gospel to be universally promulged, Matt. xxiv. 14; 
xxviii. 19; Luke xxiv. 47; Acts i. 8. 

Nominal Christendom to be fearfully apostate, Luke xviii. 8; 
2 Thess. ii. 3, 4, 8-12; 2 Tim. iii. 1-5; iv. 3,4; Matt, 
xiii. 37-43; xxiv. 37-39; 2 Peter ii. 1-22; iii. 3, 4. 

The world to abound with intense wickedness, Matt. xxiv. 37- 
39; Luke xvii. 26-30; 1 Thess. v. 1-3; 2 Tim. iii. 13; 
Jude 17-19; Rev. xiii. 1-17. 

Great troubles and revolutionary disturbances to oppress the 
nations, Isaiah ii. 10-22; v. 26-30; xxiv. 1-20; Jer. xxv. 
15-29; Ezek. xxi. 24-27; Dan. xii. 1; Haggai ii. 7, 22; 
Matt. xxiv. 21; Mark xiii. 19, 20; Luke xxi. 10, 25-27; 
Heb. xii. 27; Rev. viii. 1-13; xix. 1-21; xii. 12. 

A wide-spread awakening among Christ's people to the subject 
of his coming, Dan. xii. 9; Matt. xxv. 6; Hab. ii. 3. 

The cessation of the oppressions endured by the Jews, the re- 
building of Jerusalem, and the commencement of the re- 
turn of the people of Israel to Palestine, Luke xxi. 24; 
Dan. ix. 27; Rom. xi. 25; Lev. xxvi. 43-45; Isaiah i. 
24-28; xi. 11, 12; lxii. 1-12; Jer. xvi. 11-21; xxiii. 3; 
xxxi. 4-12, 35-40; xxxii. 37-44; xxxiii. 7-11; xlvi. 27, 
28; Ezek. xxxvi. 8-36; xxxix. 25-29; Zech. viii. 2-15. 

The multiplication of signs and portentous forebodings in 
nature, Luke xxi. 11, 25, 26, 27, 31; Mark xiii. 8, 25; 
Acts ii. 19, 20; Micih vii. 15, 16. 



372 THE LAST TIMES. 

Cheat violence of passion, anger, and blasphemy on the part 
of nations , Luke xxi. 10; Mark xiii. 8; Ps. ii. 2, 3; Joel 
iii. 9-12; Kev. xi. 18; xvi. 9, 10, 11. 

The devil to manifest himself in the most potent and malig- 
nant forms, in the Church and in the world, Matt. xii. 43 
-46; xxiv. 24; 2 Thess. ii. 7-12; 1 Tim. iv. 1-3; Rev. 
xii. 12; xiii. 1-18; xvi. 13,14. 

7. REFERENCES TO THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST WILL COME 

He will come literally and personally as he ascended, Acts i. 
9, 11; Heb. ix. 28; Rev. i. 7. 

He will most likely come first invisibly to steal away bis wait- 
ing and watching saints, when "two shall be in one bed, 
the one shall be taken and the other left," &c; at any rate, 
"as a thief in the night," Matt. xxiv. 43; Luke xii. 39; 
1 Thess. v. 2; 2 Peter iii. 10; Rev. xvi. 15; Luke xvii. 
34-36. 

He will come suddenly, when people generally will not be ex- 
pecting such a thing, Luke xxi. 34, 35; , Mark xiii. 36; 
1 Thess. v. 3; Rev. iii. 3. 

He will come, as to his visible manifestation, in splendor and 
great glory, Matt. xvi. 27; xxiv. 30; Luke ix. 26 
xxi. 27. 

He will come in the clouds, Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62 
Acts i. 9; 1 Thess. iv. 17; Rev. i. 7. 

He will be revealed from heaven as the lightning shineth 
Matt. xxiv. 27; Luke xvii. 24; Zech. ix. 14; 2 Thess. i. 8 

He will be revealed to every one's sight, Rev. i. 7; Numb 
xxiv. 17; Job xix. 26, 27; xxxiv. 26; 1 John iii. 2; Zech 
xii. 10; Rev. xxii. 4. 

He will descend to the earth at the place from which he as- 
cended, Zech. xiv. 4; Ezek. xliii. 2; Acts i. 11, 12. 

He will come accompanied with the angel-saints, whom he will 
raise from among the dead and steal away from among the 



AUTHORITIES PROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 373 

living for the purpose of having them with him, Jude 14; 

Matt. xvi. 27; xxv. 31; 1 Thess. iii. 13; Deut. xxxiii. 2; 

Zech. xiv. 5; Rev. xiv. 4; xix. 14. Compare, also, Matt. 

xxii. 30. 
He will come clothed with irresistible majesty and power, 

Matt. xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64; Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27; 

2 Thess. i. 7; Ps. ex. 2; Rev. vi. 17; xix. 15, 16. 
He will come in connection with some very marvellous 

heraldic demonstrations, 1 Thess. iv. 16. Compare Exod. 

xix. 16; xx. 18; Isaiah xxvii. 13; Zech. ix. 14; Matt. 

xxiv. 31. 

8. REFERENCES TO THE TIME WHEN CHRIST WILL COME. 

It will be in a period of abounding apostasy and unbelief, 

Matt. xxiv. 37-39; Luke xviii. 8; 2 Thess. ii. 8; 2 Tim. 

iii. 1-5; 2 Peter iii. 3, 4. 
It will be in a time of revolutionary troubles and political 

agitations and sufferings, Luke xxi. 25-28; Ps. ii. 1-5; 

Ezek. xxi. 27; Heb. xii. 26; Rev. xvi. 1-15. 
Christ will come while the Roman empire, under its last 

head, and the ten kings under whom it is to be in a 

sense revived, are still standing, Dan. vii. 9-14; Rev. xix. 

11-20. 
He will come before the Jews as an entire people shall return 

to Palestine, Micah ii. 12, 13; Isaiah Iii. 12; lxvi. 15-20; 

Rom. xi. 26. 
He will come when the Man of Sin is still in power, Dan. vii. 

8,24; 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. 
He will come at a time when an awakening cry has gone forth 

announcing his nearness, Matt. xxv. 6; Mai. iv. 5, 6; 

Rev. xvi. 15. 
He will come when nevertheless there shall be great skepti- 
cism and indifference on the subject, Luke xxi. 34, 35; 

1 Thess. v. 3- 2 Peter iii. 3, 4; Jude 14, 15, 18. 

32 



374 THE LAST TIMES. 

9. REFERENCES TO THE CONDITION OF THINGS ON THE EARTH 
AFTER THE SAVIOR'S RETURN. 

The world subjected to divine rule, Dan. ii. 44, 45; vii. 13, 

14,26,27; Matt. xxv. 31, 34; Luke xxi. 31; Rev. xi. 

15-18; xx. 4-6; Isaiah xxxii. 1, 17, 18; Jer. xxxiii. 5, 6, 
The children of Israel all united again in one permanent 

nationality, Jer. iii. 18, 19; xxiii. 3-8; xxx. 3-22; xxxiii. 

12-26; Isaiah x. 20, 21; xi. 10-13; Ezek. xxxvii. 12-28; 

Hos. i. 10, 11; Zech. viii. 3-23; ix. 12-17; x. 6-10; xii. 

6, 7; Rom. xi. 25-27. 

Christ the king, Luke i. 31-33; 2 Sam. vii. 12-16; 1 Chron 
xvii. 11-14; Ps. ii. 6-12 ; lxxxix. 3, 4, 29-37; Isa. ix. 6, 7 
Jer. iii. 17; xxxiii. 17, 20, 21; Hos. iii. 5; Ezek. xxxiv 
23, 24; xxxvii. 24, 25; 1 Cor. xv. 25; Zech. xiv. 9; Heb 
ii. 6-8. 

Satan's power in abeyance, Rev. xx. 1-3; Isaiah xxvii. 1; 
and finally destroyed, Rev. xx. 10. 

Israel wholly righteous, and a great blessing in the earth, Jer. 
xxxi. 33, 34; Ezek. xxxvi. 24-33; xxxvii. 23, 28; Rom. 
xi. 26, 27; Heb. viii. 10-12; Gen. xii. 2; Isaiah lxvi. 6, 

7, 19; Zech. viii. 21, 22; Micah iv. 1, 2. 

Jerusalem the glorious metropolis of the world, Isaiah ii. 2—4 ; 

xxiv. 23; Ix. 1-22; Joel iii. 16, 17, 20; Zech. xiv. 17- 

21; Ezek. xxxix. 25; xliii. 7. 
Christ reigning over all people, Ps. lxxii. 8-19; Micah iv. 1 

-7; Zech. ix. 10; Rev. xi. 15. 
The glorified saints share with him in the administration of 

his sublime dominion, Exod. xix. 6; Ps. xlvii. 3; xlix. 14; 

Isaiah xxxii. 1; Dan. vii. 21, 22; Matt. xix. 28; Luke 

xix. 17, 19; xxii. 29, 30; 1 Cor. iv. 5; vi. 2, 3; ix. 25; 

2 Tim. iv. 8; 1 Peter v. 4; Rev. i. 6; ii. 10, 26, 27; iii. 

21; v. 10; xx. 4; xxi. 7; xxii. 5. 
The knowledge of the Lord fills the world, Isaiah xi. 9 ; Ps. 

xxii. 27; Hab. ii. 14; Zech. xiv. 8, 9; Heb. viii. 10, 11. 



AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 875 

The curse is repealed, and the suffering creation delivered, 

Rev. xxii. 3; Rom. viii. 19-23; 1 Tim. ii. 15; Isaiah xi. 

6-9; Hosea ii. 17, 18; Zech. xiv. 11, 20, 21. 
All things made new, Isaiah lxv. 17-25; lxvi. 22; 2 Peter 

iii. 10-13; Rev. xxi. 1-5; Matt. xix. 28; Acts iii. 20, 21. 
The Xord dwelling with men, Lev. xxvi. 11, 12; Ezek. 

xxxvii. 27, 28; xliii. 7; xlviii. 35; Rev. xxi. 3. 
The earth full of -prosperity and blessedness, Ps. lxvii. 6, 7 ; 

xcvi. 11-13; Isaiah Hi. 9, 10; lv. 12, 13; xxxii. 15-20; 

xxxv. 1-10; Amos xiii. 15; Joel iii. 18. 
Death and all evil finally and completely destroyed, Isaiah 

xxv. 8; Hosea xiii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 26; Heb ii. 14, 15; 

Rev. vii. 16, 17; xx. 14; xxi. 4; xxii. 1-5. 
God all in all, 1 Cor. xv. 24, 27, 28. 

10. REFERENCES TO THE USES MADE IN THE SCRIPTURES OP THB 
REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE SECOND ADVENT. 

They present it as the great hope of the Church, Titus ii. 13 ; 

1 Peter i. 13; Job xix. 25-27; Isaiah xxv. 9; Col. ii. 4; 

2 Tim. iv. 8. 

They give it as a motive — 

to take up testimony for Christ, Luke ix. 26. 

to heavenly-mindedness, Phil. iii. 20. 

to moderation, Phil. iv. 5. 

to mortification of the flesh, Col. iii. 4, 5. 

to faithfulness in God's service, 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim iv. 

1,2, 8; 1 Peter v. 4. 
to soberness and godly living, Titus ii. 12, 13. 
to perseverance, Heb. x. 37. 
to patience, James v. 7, 8. 

to holy conversation and godliness, 2 Peter iii. 10, 11. 
to diligence and activity, Matt. xxv. 14-30; Luke xix. 13; 

2 Peter iii. 14. 
to hold fast what we have in Christ, Rev. ii. 25; iii. 11. 



376 THE LAST TIMES. 

They give it as a motive — 

to carefulness in intercourse with the world, Kev. xvi. 15. 
to fraternal affection, 1 Thess. iii. 12, 13. 
to abide in Christ, 1 John ii. 28. 

They refer to it as a subject of peculiar comfort under bereave- 
ment, 1 Thess. iv. 18; 2 Tim. i. 5, 7; ii. 12; Isa. xxx. 18. 

They employ it as an encouragement to labor for souls, and as 
a subject of solemn appeal in the charge to ministers, 
1 Cor i. 4-7; 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20; 2 Tim. iv. 1. 

They direct attention to it as a corrective of, and support 
under, censoriousness and judging of others, 1 Cor. iv. 
3-6. 

They speak of it as a thing which should possess absorbing 
importance and interest to all who desire to be prepared 
for the eternal kingdom, Matt- xxiv. 42-51; xxv. 13; 
Mark xiii. 33-37; Luke xxi. 34-36; 1 Thess. v. 4-6. 

11. REFERENCES TO THE FUTURE DESTINY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.* 

They shall be gathered from all places of their dispersion and 

brought into their own land, Isaiah xi. 11; xxvii. 12, 13; 

xliii. 5, 6; xlix. 11, 12; lx. 4; Jer. iii. 18; xvi. 14, 15; 

xxiii. 3; xxxi. 7-10; xxxii. 37; Zech. viii. 7, 8; x. 8, 

9,10. 
They shall be helped, carried, and numerously joined by the 

Gentiles, Isaiah xlix. 22; xiv. 2; lx. 9; lxvi. 18-20; ii. 

2-4; Jer. iii. 17; xvi. 19; Ezek. xlvii. 22, 23; Zech. 

viii. 20-23. 
Great miracles shall attend their restoration, Isaiah xi. 15, 

16; Zech. x. 11; Micah vii. 15; Isaiah xix. 20; xli. 19, 

20; xliii. 19, 20; lxvi. 18-22; Hosea xii. 9, 10; Isaiah 
- xxxv. 4-1Q; Hi. 12; lviii. 8; Hosea i. 10, 11; Micah ii. 

12, 13; Malachiiv. 5, 6. 

* Mostly from Powel's Concordance, published in 1673. 



AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 377 

They shall again be formed into a state, with judges and 

counsellors as formerly, Christ himself being their king, 

Isaiah i. 25, 26; lx. 15-22; Jer. xxiii. 4; xxx. 9, 21; 

Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24; xxxvii. 24, 25; Hosea iii 5; Oba- 

diah21; Zech. xiv. 5, 9. 
They shall have the victory over all their enemies, and the 

pre-eminence of all the nations, Isaiah xli. 14-16; xlix. 

23; lx. 8-14; Joel iii. 7, 8, 19, 20; Obadiah 17, 18; 

Micah iv. 6-13; v. 5-7; vii. 16, 17; Zech. ii. 12, 13; ix. 

13, 17; x. 5, 6; xii. 6-9. 
Once restored, they shall live peaceably, and no more be 

divided into two nations, Isaiah xi. 13, 14; Jer. 1. 4; Ezek. 

xxxvii. 19, 22; Hosea i. 11. 
They shall be numerous and multiply greatly, Isaiah xxvii. 6; 

xliv. 3, 4; xlix. 18-21; liv. 1-3; lxi. 9; Jer. xxiii. 3; 

xxx. 18-20; xxxiii. 10, 11; xxxvi. 37,38. 
They shall have great peace, safety, and prosperity, Isaiah 

xxxii. 16-18; xxxiii. 24; liv. 13-17; lx. 18-22; Jer. 

xxiii. 3-6; xxx. 10-22; xxxi. 34-40; xxxiii. 6-9; 1. 19, 

20; Zeph. iii. 13; Zech. iii. 9, 10. 
They shall be very glorious, and a blessing to the whole 

earth, Isaiah xix. 24, 25; lxi. 9; Jer. xxxiii. 9; Ezek. 

xxxiv. 26; Zeph. iii. 19; Zech. viii. 13; xii. 8; Rom. 

xi. 15. 
Judea shall be made extraordinarily fruitful and attractive, 

Isaiah xxix. 17; xxxv. 1-9; li. 3, 16; liv. 12, 13; lx. 13 

-17; lxv. 25; Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27; xxxvi. 36; Joel iii. 

18; Amos ix. 13, 14. 
Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, and after the restoration of all the 

tribes shall never be destroyed, nor infested with enemies 

any more, Isaiah ii. 1-3; Iii. 1; xxvi. 1, 2; lx. 10-20; 

Jer. xxxi. 38-40; Joel iii. 17. 
Immediately preceding, and in connection with, their esta- 
blishment in Palestine, and especially their conversion, 
32* 



378 THE LAST TIMES. 

there shall be great wars, confusion, and desolation through- 
out the earth, Isaiah xxxiv. 1-17; Jer. xxx. 17-10; Joel iii. 
1-10; Ezek. xxviii. 24-26; Haggai ii. 21-23; Zeph. iii. 
8; Zech. xiv. 2, 3, 12-15. 

Their general restoTation and conversion not to take place till 
after the return of Christ, Zech. xii. 7; Isaiah xi. 1-16; 
Hi. 12; lxvi. 1-24; Micah ii. 12, 13; Zech. xii. 1-14; 
xiv. 1-21; Rom. xi. 26; Ezek. xxxvii. 1-28; Ps. cii. 16. 

Previous to the return of Christ, just one year-day week, 
many of them will make a compact with the Antichrist, in 
some sense accepting him as their protector and Messiah, 
Dan. ix. 27; xi. 23; Matt. xxiv. 24. 

Their land to be invaded, and their city to be once more par- 
tially destroyed, immediately before the revelation of Christ 
on Mount Olivet, Zech. xiv. 2, 12; Dan. xi. 41-45; Ezek. 
xxviii. 8-23; Isaiah lxvi. 18; Joel iii. 9-17; Rev. xvi. 
14; Zech. xii. 9. 

Their general conversion to be effected by the personal ap- 
pearance of Christ, Zech. xii. 10; Rom. xi. 26. Allusion 
to this seems also to be contained in 1 Tim. i. 16. Paul's 
conversion was by the personal manifestation of Christ, 
Acts ix. 3-5; 1 Cor. ix. 1. 

12. REFERENCES TO THE ANTICHRIST OF THE LAST DAYS. 

His names, 2 Thess. ii. 2, 8; Isaiah xiv. 4, 25; Ezek. xxviii. 

2, 12; Dan. xi. 21; viii. 9, 23; Matt. xxiv. 15; Rev. ix. 

11; xiii. 18. 
His character Jbr deceit and subtlety, Isaiah xiv. ; Ezek. xxviii. 

3-17; Dan. xi. 32; 2 Thess. ii. 9-11; Matt. xxiv. 24. 
Is to utter marvellous things against the Most High, and deny 

the Father and the Son, Dan. xi. 36; 1 John iv. 3; 2 John 

7; Rev. xiii. 13. 
Is to establish himself in Jerusalem, Dan. xi. 45; Ezek. 

xxviii. 2, 14; Matt. xxiv. 15. 



AUTHORITIES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 379 

Is to appropriate Divine honors and establish idolatry, Ezek. 
xxviii. 2; Dan. xi. 36; Isaiah xiv. 13, 14; 2 Thess. ii. 4; 
Rev. xiii. 15. 

Is to take away the restored daily sacrifice of the Jews, Dan. 
viii. 10-12; ix. 27; xi. 31. 

Is to destroy and persecute the holy people, Dan. viii. 24; 
Rev. xii. 13, 17; xiii. 7, 15, 16, 17; xx. 4. 

Is to unite the armies of the earth in an expedition into Pa- 
lestine, Isaiah xiii. 4, 5; xvii. 12-14; Dan. xii. 1; Joel 
iii. 2; Matt. xxiv. 21; Rev. xvi. 16; perhaps, also, Ezek. 
xxxviii. 8-19. 

Is to be destroyed by the revelation of Christ in Palestine, 
Isaiah xiv. 10-25; Ezek. xxviii. 7, 8; xxxviii. 21, 22; 
Dan. xi. 25; 2 Thess. ii. 8; Rev. xix. 11-20. 

His greatness and fall specially described, Ezek. xxxi. 2-18; 
Isaiah xiv. 4-25. 

His rule and principal depredations as the Antichrist to con- 
tinue only about three and a half years, Dan. vii. 25; ix. 
27; Rev. xi. 3; xii. 6; xiii. 5. 

Irenaeus has this observation : — ■" When Antichrist, reigning 
three years and six months, shall have laid waste all thinga 
in this world, and have sat in the temple of Jerusalem, 
then shall the Lord come from heaven, in the clouds, in 
the glory of his Father, casting him and those that obey 
him into the lake of fire." 

13. REFERENCES TO THE GENERAL ORDER OP EVENTS.* 

When the times of the Gentiles are passing away, (Luke xxi. 

' 24, 25; Rom. xi. 25-32,) the Jews are recalled (Dan. ix. 

27; Ezek. xx. 32-44; Isaiah xlix. 9-12) and replaced in 

their own land, Ezek. xxxvi. 1-38; xxxvii. 20-23; Isaiah 

* Mostly from Bickersteth's " Practical Guide to the Proph./' pp. 209-212. 



380 ^HE LAST TIMES. 

xi. 11, 12; lxii. 4; Jer. xxxi. 1-6; Deut. xxx. 4-6; 

xxxii. 43. 
The apostate Gentiles under Antichrist come against them, 

Isaiah lxvi. 1-4; Jer. xxx. 1-9; Isaiah x. 20-27; Dan. 

ix. 27; Isaiah xxxi.; xxxiii. 1-10; Ezek. xxxviii. 1-16; 

Dan. xi. 41, 45; Joel ii. 1-20; Micah iv. 8-10; Dan. xii. 

1,2. 
The signs in the sun, moon, and stars are manifested, Matt. 

xxiv. 20-29; Luke xxi. 24-26; Heh. xii. 26-28; Hag.ii. 

6, 7; Isaiah xiii. 9-11; xxxiv. 1-4; Joel iii. 12-15; ii. 

31-32; Mai. iv. 1-6. 
The sign of the Son of man appears in the darkened heavens, 

Matt. xxiv. 29, 30; Luke xxi. 27, 28; Isaiah xviii. 3-7; 

xi. 12-14; xxxi. 6-8; Dan. vii. 13-14; Matt, xxiii. 39; 

Luke xvii. 24. 
He raises the great company of the sainted dead, and changes 

the great company of the sainted living, all of whom 

ascend to him in the air, Matt. xxiv. 31 ; Rev. xi. 15-18 

1 Cor. xv. 51-54; 1 Thess. iv. 15-17; 2 Thess. i. 7 

Isaiah xxvii. 12, 13; Rev. iii. 10; Isaiah xxvi. 19-21 

Mai. iii. 17, 18; Rev. xiv. 16. 
The beast, the kings of the earth, and their gathered armies, 

in their rage, enmity, and blindness, propose to make war 

against the Lord, and the armies which follow him, Matt. 

xxiv. 30; Rev. xi. 18; xvi. 14; Isaiah viii. 8-10; x. 24- 

26; xxiv. 21, 22; xxvii. 4; xxxi. 4; liv. 15; lxvi. 18; 

Joel iii. 1, 2; Micah iv. 11-13; Zeph. iii. 9; Zech. xii. 

2-5; xiv. 1-5; Rev. xix. 19. 
Christ pours his judgments on Antichrist and his adherents, 

pleading with all flesh by fire and sword, Matt. xxiv. 36- 

39; Rev. xv. 1; xvi. 1; Dan. ix. 27; Isaiah x. 24, 26 

xiv. 24-26; xxiv. 21-23; xxxiv.; lxiii.; Rev. xix. 10-21 

Joel iii. 11-16; Nahum i. 9-15; Isaiah xxxiii. 27-33 

Ezek. xxxviii. 17-23; Dan. vii. 9-14; Mai. iv. 1-3; Matt. 



AUTHORITIES FRCM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 381 

iii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 8; ii.. 8; Kev. xix. 15-20; Isaiah 
lxi. 16. 

The character of the dispensation, discriminating, punishing, 
and purifying, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13; Mai. iii. 3; Zech. xiii. 9; 
Mark ix. 42, 50; Jer. xx. 9; xxiii. 29; Psalm xcvii. 3; 
1 Peter iv. 12; 2 Peter iii. 10-13; Rev. iii. 18. 

Every man's work made manifest, for the day shall declare it, 
because it shall be revealed by fire, the progress of which 
accomplishes the predicted- passing away of the heavens and 
the earth into the new heavens and earth, and which, like 
the Jewish tribulation, seems to have a crisis in the be- 
ginning (Ezek. xxxviii. 22 ; xxxix. 6; Isaiah lxvi. 15, 16) 
and another at the close (Rev. xx. 9) of the Millennial 
kingdom, Matt. xxiv. 21; Luke xxi. 22-24; Dan. xii. 1; 
Jer. xxx. 7; Rev. xix. 20; xx. 9. 

The Lord descends visibly on Mount Olivet, with his glorified 
saints, (Acts i. 11; Zech. xiv. 4, 5; Isaiah lxiv. 1; lxvi. 
15; lx. 13; Ezek. xliii. 7-9,) in the sight of his people 
Israel, Isaiah lxvi. 18, 19; Zech. xii. 10-14; Isaiah xxv. 
9; Matt, xxiii. 29; Rom. xi. 26; Isaiah lix. 20; Zech. ii. 
10-12. 

These, humbled at length by their great affliction, and brought 
to penitence by beholding their pierced Savior, welcome 
his return, Zech. xii. 10-14; Jer. xxxi. 8-12; Acts iii. 
19-21; Isaiah xii. 2-4; ^salm cvii.; cviii.; Rev. xix. 1, 
3, 4, 6. 

Satan is then bound, and our Lord proceeds to reward all his 
faithful servants for every loss and sacrifice made for him, 
begins his glorious Millennial reign with his saints over 
the nations who have escaped those awful judgments 
which have consumed his foes, Isaiah xxxii. 1; Dan. vii. 
18,27; xii. 4; Luke xxii. 28-30; John i. 51; Rev. xi. 
18; xx. 4-6. 

But, though the spiritual blessedness of this reign far exceeds 



S82 THE LAST TIMES. 

that of any former dispensation, and the new heavens and 
the new earth begin in the heavenly reign of the saints, 
and the glory of the land of Israel, (Isaiah lxv. 17-19,) 
yet the spirit of rebellion still secretly lurks among the 
nations, (Zech. xiv. 17-19,) which, after ripening for a 
time, is permitted to display itself, by the loosing of Satan 
for a little season, that it may then be put down forever, 
Rev. xx. 9. 

Our Lord reigns till he shall have completely put all enemies 
under his feet ; Satan himself is cast into the lake of fire ; 
the final judgment of "the rest of the dead" takes place, 
and death and hell, and whosoever is not found written in 
the book of life, are cast into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 
10-15. 

The new heavens and the new earth being now perfected, and 
there being no more sea, (Rev. xxi. 1,) the holy city de- 
scends, and the state of highest happiness arrives, when 
God is all in all, and his saints reign for ever and ever, 
Rev. xxi. ; xxii. 1-5. 

14. REFERENCES TO THE DUTT AND IMPORTANCE OF AN EARNEST 
AND DEVOUT STUDY AND HANDLING OF THESE THINGS. 

No scripture is useless, 2 Tim. iii. 14-17. 

It is well to study prophecy, 2 Peter i. 19. 

Special blessings are for those who attend to these revelations, 

Hab. ii. 2, 3; Acts xvii. 11, 12; 1 Peter i. 10-12; 1 Cor. 

ii. 9, 10; Rom. xv. 4; Dan. x. 11, 12; Rev. i. 1-3; xxii. 

7; Lukexi. 28. 
It is a special command to give attention to these things, 

2 Peter iii. 1-3; Jude 17, 18; Acts xx. 25-27. 
Solemn responsibilities are placed upon the ministers of 

Christ with reference to these things, Ezek. xxxiii. 1-7; 

Rev. xx. 8-10, 18, 19. 
Participation in the honors of the kingdom is made depend- 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORks. 383 

ent on the manner in which we are affected toward the 
Savior's coming, Matt. xxiv. 42-51; xxv. 1-13; Heb. ix. 
28; 2 Tim. iv. 8; Phil. iii. 20; 1 Thess. i. 9, 10; Titus ii. 
11-13; 2 Peter iii. 11, 12; Matt. v. 17-20. 
There is great danger of being drawn into a skeptical behavior 
with reference to these . matters, 2 Tim. iii. 4 ; 2 Peter iii. 
1-4; implied also in the many commands to " watch." 



CHAPTER II. 

REFERENCES TO THE OPINIONS AND WORKS OF THE 
FATHERS ON THESE SUBJECTS. 

The Apostolic Fathers, or those Christian teachers and 
writers who immediately succeeded the apostles, have left but 
little that has come down to us. But, even in that little, there 
are evidences that they thought upon these subjects in sub- 
stance as taught in this volume. We have defiuite knowledge 
of but five of them ; all of whom appear to have been Mil- 
lenarians. 

1. Barnabas, quoted at p. 237, was the earliest. He is re- 
ferred to in Acts iv. 36, 37, and ix. 24. He wrote about a.d. 
71. We have from him an epistle, called "The Catholic 
Epistle of St. Barnabas," consisting of twenty-one chapters; 
in the 15th of which he refers to the Millennium, the coming 
of Christ to abolish the wicked one, the judgment of the 
wicked, the renewal of all things, and the introduction of a 
new order into the world. There can be no doubt, from this 
chapter, that he understood the predictions of the Scriptures 
in +he Millenarian sense. For a translation of this Epistle, 
see Wake's Apostolic Fathers, pp. 196-219; or Apocryphal 
New Testament, pp. 90-104. For the original, see Hefele's 
Patrum Apostolicorum Opera, pp. 1-51. 



884 THE LAST TIMES. 

2. Clement, quoted at p. 238, was Bishop of Rome about 
A.D. 91-93, and is supposed to be the same referred to in 
Phil. iv. 3. We have from this father an epistle, called "The 
First Epistle to the Corinthians," consisting of sixty para- 
graphs or chapters, (in the Apocryphal JST. T., 23,) in which 
we find statements, exhortations, and allusions which have 
satisfied many that his views accorded with those of Barnabas 
"and were decidedly Millenarian. See Wake's Apostolic 
Fathers, or Hefele's Pat. Apos. Op., Clement's First Epistle, 
latter part of XXIII. with XXIV., XXXIV., XXXV., L. 

What is called the Second Epistle of Clement is referred to 
a much later period, and is supposed to have been written by 
a very different hand. It is thought to belong to the fourth 
century. But, whenever written, or by whomsoever, it is 
Millenarian in its tone and general conceptions. See Wake's 
Fathers, Second Epistle of St. Clement, VII., IX., XII.; 
or Hefele's Patrum Apostolicorum Opera, pp. 142, 144, 
148. 

3. Hermas, generally allowed to be the same alluded to in 
Rom. xvi. 14, is supposed to have written his work entitled 
"The Shepherd" about A.D. 100. That he was a Millenarian 
is evinced in various parts of the book. In Vision I., latter 
part of section 3, in Wake's Fathers, the doctrine of the reign 
of the saints in the renovated world seems clearly to be 
taught. Vision IV. seems also to be framed, in divers parti- 
culars, to Millenarian anticipations. For the original, see 
Hefele, pp. 325, 342-344. 

4. Ignatius, surnamed Theophorus, received his Christian 
training under John and Peter, succeeded Peter at Antioch, 
and died an illustrious martyr under Trajan, A.D. 107. He 
has left seven epistles which have come down to us. He no- 
where touches with much definiteness upon any points from 
which his views on the Millennium might manifest themselves. 
But his letters contain nothing in conflict with our doctrines, 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 385 

and refer frequently to the nearness of Christ's anticipated 
return in a manner much more after the spirit of Mille- 
narian teaching than an)' other. See his Epistle to Polycarp, 
paragraph III., Wake's Fathers; or Hefele, pp. 236-239. 

5. Polycarp, also one of the disciples of John, and the 
Bishop of Smyrna, supposed to be the person referred to in 
Rev. ii. 8-11, lived to a great age, and died, a martyr, a.d 
167. There remains to us from him but one brief letter, 
called "The Epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philippians," 
where he incidentally alludes to the resurrection, and the 
reign of the saints with Christ after his return, and to the 
kingdom to be inherited by the truly pure, in a way which 
seems as if he had conceived of these matters only as Mille- 
narians do. See Wake's Fathers, Polycarp's Epistle, V., XII., 
or Hefele's Patrum Apost. Opera, pp. 262, 271. 

The Primitive Fathers, or those who constituted the 
next several generations after those who enjoyed the personal 
instructions of the apostles, have, for the most part, given 
very decided evidence of their earnest belief of Millenarian 
doctrines. 

1. Papias, Bishop of Hieropolis, quoted on p. 239, was 
the most ancient of them. Indeed, Irenseus asserts that he 
was one of St. John's hearers, and a personal friend of Poly- 
carp. He is supposed to have written about a.d. 116. His 
five books, entitled "An Explication of the Oracles of the 
Lord," have been lost, with the exception of a few fragments 
preserved by Eusebius. But enough remains to show unmis- 
takably that he was a decided Millenarian, and that he 
claimed to have received his opinions on this subject from 
those elders who had been taught by the apostles themselves. 
See Eusebius's Ecc. History, III. 39; or Routh's Reliquiae 
Sacrse, I. pp. 7-14; or Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel 

History, vol. 2, p. 107. Greswell's remarks in connection 
7 33 



386 THE LAST TIMES. 

with the testimony of Papias to the Millennium are much to 
the point. See his Parables, vol. 1, pp. 273-284. 

2. Justin the Martyr, quoted on p. 239, the next in the 
order of time, was born a.d. 89, and martyred a.d. 163. He 
was the cotemporary of Papias and Polycarp, and was a 
learned and admirable Christian writer. Several works from 
his pen still survive. He was not only a decided Millenarian, 
but claimed that all orthodox Christians, and such as were in 
all points right-minded, believed as he did on the subject; 
thus also attesting the Millenarianism of Polycarp, with whom 
he was cotemporaneous for about seventy years. See Se- 
misch's Life, Writings, and Opinions of Justin Martyr, vol. 2, 
cap. 7, where full citations of this distinguished father's 
words are given. See particularly Justini Martyris Dialogus 
cum Tryplwne Judseo, cap. 80; Migne's Patrologise, vol. 6, 
col. 664-667. There is a translation of this Dialogue into 
English, by Henry Browne, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1755. 

3. Tatian, a writer of numerous works, only one of which, 
his " Oration against the Greeks," remains. There is no- 
thing in this from which to ascertain his views on the subject 
of the Millennium. But, as he was one of the disciples of 
Justin Martyr, who regarded Millenarianism as a test of ortho- 
doxy, it is to be presumed, until evidence to the contrary is 
produced, that he believed and taught upon this subject the 
same as his preceptor. 

4. Melito, Bishop of Sardis, was also a cotemporary of 
Justin Martyr, and is to be included among those orthodox 
Christians to whose Millenarianism Justin testifies. He died 
about a.d. 170, and was one of the most eminent bishops of 
his time. He was distinguished for holiness, eloquence, and 
learning. He is supposed by some to have been the person 
addressed in Rev. iii. 1-6. Among a large number of works, 
he wrote one on Prophecy and another on the Apocalypse. 
None of his writings remain; but Guennadius, (De Dogm. 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 387 

Ecdes. c. 52,) who seems to have been familiar with them, 
quotes him as a Millenarian; and the annotator of the Oxford 
translation of Tertullian, on the authority of Guennadius, 
classes him with " the maintainers of the Millennium," (pp. 
124, 125.) Jerome is also given as authority that he was a 
Millenarian, (Taylor's Voice of the Church, p. 66,) and there 
can be no reasonable doubt of it. 

5. IrenjEUS, the eminent Bishop of Lyons, born about 
a.d. 140, to whom reference is made on p. 240, was also a 
decided Millenarian. Having been a disciple of Polycarp, he 
was an earnest promulgator of the same views which his 
teacher held. His great work "Against the Heretics" con- 
sists of five books. The original Greek, with the exception 
of a few fragments, has been lost, but the contents have been 
preserved in an ancient* Latin translation. The whole of the 
fifth book of this work, from chapter 25 to the end, (see 
Migne's Patrologiee, vol. 7, col. 1120-1224,) relates to the 
subject of the unfulfilled prophecies in the book of Revela- 
tion, Daniel, &c, and supplies the clearest intimations that, 
in the expectation of a kingdom of Christ yet to come in this 
world, his opinions agreed with those of Papias and Justin 
Martyr, liefer especially to cap. 33, sees. 3, 4, (Migne, col. 
1213, 1214.) A good translation of this passage is given by 
Greswell On the Parables, vol. 1, pp. 289, 290. 

6. Clemens Alexandrinus, referred to on p. 242, was 
also a distinguished teacher and writer in the early Church, 
who flourished about a.d. 192. His works do not furnish 
any thing very decided on the subject, but numerous expres- 
sions occur which intimate that he was a Millenarian on some 
points at least. And as he was for many years cotemporary 
with Justin Martyr, and was always regarded by the ancients 
with great respect, the presumption is fair that he was one of 
those right-minded and orthodox Christians all of whom Justin 
declares to have been believers in the Millenarian under- 



388 THE LAST TIMES. 

standing of sacred prophecy. He connected the belief of a 
general renewal of the world with the seventh thousand years 
from the creation of man, and believed that the kingdom of 
heaven was to be introduced with judgments; which neces- 
sarily involves some of the most important points of the Mil- 
lenarian faith. 

7. Tertullian, quoted at p. 241, was born about a.d. 160. 
He was bred for the profession uf the law, and was a man of 
rare genius as well as fervent and active piety. Spanheim 
assigns him "a place in the first rank of the Fathers, in erudi- 
tion, acumen, and eloquence." He wrote an entire work on 
the subjects involved in Millenarianism, entitled " De Spe 
Fidelium," which has been lost. He himself gives an ac- 
count of it, and elsewhere informs us what was the nature of 
the doctrines which he therein elaborated more at large. See 
his work Adversus Marcionem, lib. 3, cap. 24; Migne's Opera 
Tertulliani, torn. 2, col. 355-358. A good translation of this 
passage is given by Greswell On the Parables^ 1, pp. 305— 
307. He here evinces his full accord with his distinguished 
cotemporary Irenaeus. The same views are also presented in 
other portions of his works. See his Apologeticus, cap. 48, 
Migne's Oper. Ter., torn. 1, col. 520-527; Be Spectaculus, 
cap. 30, Migne's Op. Ter., torn. 1, col. 660-662; De Ora- 
tione, cap. 5, Migne's Op. Ter., torn. 1, col. 1158, 1159; De 
Baptismo, cap. 19, Migne's Op. Ter., torn. 1, col. 1222; Ad- 
versus Judseos, cap. 14, Migne's Op. Ter., torn. 2, col. 638- 
642; De Anima, cap. 37, Migne's Op. Ter., torn. 2, col. 713 
-715; De Resurrectio Carnis, cap. 22, 25, 35, Migne's Op. 
Ter., torn. 2, col. 824-5, 831, 844-5. 

There are some valuable remarks on Tertullian's testimony 
on this subject, by Greswell, Parables, vol. 1, pp. 300-309. 

Apocryphal Writings op the Primitive Church. — 
Of course we do not refer to apocryphal works as authorities, 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 389 

for authorities they are not; but, as witnesses to the fact that 
certain doctrines were actually current in the times of their 
authors, no reasonable objection can be raised against them. 
The doctrine of the Millennium we receive upon the testi- 
mony of the Scriptures alone; but the manner in which those 
Scriptures were understood at the time certain apocryphal 
books were composed may be learned as well from such 
apocryphal books as any other. They are a part of the history 
of the Church. The references given below are not in proof 
of the correctness of Millenarian views, but simply as cor- 
roborations of the fact that those views were held by the pri- 
mitive Christians, and by themselves proclaimed as part of 
their faith. 

1. The Book of Enoch. This is an apocryphal produc- 
tion, often referred to by the Fathers, but which was supposed 
to be lost, until Bruce brought it from Abyssinia, where he 
found it still existing in an Ethiopic version. It was trans- 
lated by Dr. Laurence into English, and published first in 
1821, (3d edition, Oxford, 1838.) There is also a German 
version, by A. Gr. Hoffmann, entitled Das Buck Henoch in 
volstandiger Uehersetzung , mit Commentary Einleitung und Ex- 
cursen; 2 Abth., Jena, 1833-38. It was written some time 
during the first century. Liicke places it in the time of the 
Jewish war, probably after the destruction of Jerusalem; 
Credner, in about the same time the Apocalypse was written ; 
and Greswell, between the Jewish war under Vespasian and 
that under Hadrian. Christian elements certainly are con- 
tained in it. The doctrine of a personal reign of Christ on 
earth, and of a state of things analogous to what may be ex- 
pected under the Millennium, occurs in various parts of it. 
In the first chapter there is a plain allusion to the second 
coming of Christ with the holy angels; and in the 24th, to 
the personal residence of God on earth, whilst the saints 

33* 



390 THE LAST TIMES. 

enjoy authority and great peace. See chap. x. 20-29; xxiv ; 
xxxviii.; xxxix. 1; xlv.; lxi. 11-18. 

2. The Second Book of Esdras. This apocryphal pro- 
duction has been preserved through the Latin vulgate and an 
Arabic version, the Greek original having been lost. An 
English version of it is frequently bound in at the end of the 
Old Testament, with other ancient non-canonical writings. A 
critical edition of it was published by Dr. Laurence in 1820. 
Laurence and Merkel fix the time of its composition about a 
quarter of a century before the birth of Christ; but Corrodi, 
Liicke, Grfrofer, "Wieseler, and G-reswell, with more reason, 
argue that it was written, by a Christian hand, about a.d. 96. 
It exhibits great familiarity with the writings of the New 
Testament, and in some parts is but little more than a repro- 
duction of them. Its visions, predictions, and declarations 
are largely of a Millenarian type. It tells of the return of 
the hidden tribes of Israel in the time of the end, of great 
commotions and tribulations preceding that restitution, of an 
infidel antichristian contest at the end of this dispensation, of 
a first resurrection, and of the reign of Christ with his saints, 
or what is equivalent to it. See chap. ii. 10-24, 26-48 ; vi. 8, 
9, 18-28; vii. 26-35, 42-44; viii. 50-52, 61-63; ix. 3-13 ; 
xiii. 3-14, 23-58 ; and indeed the whole book. 

3. The Sibylline Oracles. (Sybillinorum Oraculorum y 
Servatius Gallseus. Amst. 1689, 4to.) The exact origin of 
this production is not known. Some consider it a purely 
Christian work, written in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, 
and some regard it as a purely Jewish effusion, composed in 
the second century before Christ. Others, again, consider it 
of Jewish origin, but subsequently modified, interpolated, and 
enlarged by some Christian hand. Bleek thinks that the 
oldest portions of it date back two hundred years before 
Christ, and that the latest of them originated four hundred 
years after Christ. We are safe in referring the great mass 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 391 

of what are now known as the Sibylline Oracles to primitive 
Christianity, written in all probability within twenty or thirty 
years of the Revelation of St. John. It is just such a com- 
position as would be likely, above all other writings of the 
time, to gather up and set forth what were the expectations 
and doctrines of the primitive Christians with respect to the 
future, and to those events which are yet to happen before 
the end of time. It has, of course, suffered much in its 
transmission to us, and bears the appearance of a very ill- 
sorted and ill-connected composition; but still it contains a 
variety of allusions sufficiently intelligible to bear witness to 
the fact that the Millenarian faith existed at the times in 
which it was written, and that this faith was a part of the com- 
mon Christian creed as then received and held. See especially 
lib. 3, pp. 327,465, 466^69, 473; lib. 2, pp. 289-293; lib. 5, 
pp. 561, 592-593, 602-605, 618, 620, 621, 673, 674. 

The reader will find these passages cited in full, with able 
criticisms upon them, in G-reswell On the Parables, (vol. 5, 
part 2, pp. 176-236,) where the remark is made that there 
is nothing extant of primitive Christian antiquity, either 
apocryphal or non-apocryphal, and belonging strictly to this 
period, in which the truth of the genuine Millenarian doc- 
trines is not illustrated and confirmed, and in which the same 
belief is not, in one way or another, recognized. 

Bishop Russell also testifies that "so far as we view the 
question in reference to the sure and certain hope entertained 
by the Christian world that the Redeemer would appear on 
earth, and exercise authority during a thousand years, there 
is good ground for the assertion of Mede, Dodwell, Burnet, 
and other writers on the same side, that down to the begin- 
ning of the fourth century the belief was universal and un- 
disputed." (Discourse on the MiMen., p. 236.) Eusebius, too, 
who flourished about a.d. 300, in what he says of Papias, and 
his declarations concerning what he had heard from the 



392 THE LAST TIMES. 

apostles, acknowledges that there were nXelffrot B<rot — very 
MANY — Church, writers who expected that there would be a 
thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when Christ 
would reign personally on the earth. (Euseb. Ecc. Hist., lib. 
3, cap. 39.) Upon which Grcswell very justly observes, 
" This admission virtually implies that the belief in the future 
Millennium was the orthodox or catholic notion in the second 
and third centuries." See other authorities on pp. 244, 245. 

The Later Fathers. — The fact that the primitive Church 
was thoroughly, if not universally, Millcnarian, must go very 
far towards establishing the presumption that these doctrines 
were derived from the apostles and Christ himself, as Papias 
testifies that they were. The testimony of later teachers can 
add nothing to the force with which this conclusion urges 
itself upon an honest mind. We refer to the later Fathers, 
not in the way of proof of the correctness of our doctrines, 
but as additional human testimonies, and as belonging to the 
ancient literature of the subject. 

1. Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, flourished about a.d. 222, 
was in early life a disciple of Ironauis, and was evidently a 
believer in the views so earnestly inculcated by his teacher. 
Most of his works have been lost, and some directly on the 
subject of the Millennium, the prophecies of Daniel and 
John, the Resurrection, &c. Some fragments from his pen, 
however, remain. His tract " De Antichristo," which is ad- 
mitted to be genuine, is thoroughly Millenarian in its methods 
of interpretation and in many of its statements. Citations to 
this effect are given by Greswell On the Parables, (1, pp. 331, 
37G;) and in Elliott's Eorae Apocalypticae (4, pp. 283,284.) 
See Ilippol. Opera, pars II., 13, 14, capp. 19, 20. There are 
also some sentences from his exposition of Daniel preserved 
in the British Museum, in Syriac, a translation of some of 
which is given in The Journal of Sacred Literature, N. S., 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 393 

vol. 8, pp. 348-354. In these sentences the succession of 
worldly empires is regularly traced down to Antichrist, and 
his destruction by the personal appearance of Christ, and the 
setting up of u the kingdom of heaven" in their place, which 
is to be enjoyed by all "them that are worthy." See also 
Photius, cap. 202, where Hippolytus is represented as a 
Millenarian. 

2. Cyprian, referred to on p. 242, flourished about a.d. 
248. He had the very highest regard for Tertullian and his 
writings, and had no hesitation in ranking himself as one of 
his disciples. He must therefore be regarded as a Millena- 
rian, as his works also indicate that he was. See his Epistles, 
lviii. 8; lxi. 3; lxiii. 15, 16, (Oxford ed.;) Migne's Cypriani 
Opera Omnia, col. 355, 388, 389; also Epist. 59, (Oxford 
ed.,) and especially "De Exhortatio Martyrii," latter part, 
where he shows his accordance with Barnabas, in referring 
the consummation of all things to the seventh Millennium 
from the creation. 

3. Commodian, a cotemporary of Cyprian, and a poet, 
wrote about a.d. 270. Clarke (Sacred Literature, p. 194) 
says of him that "he received the docrine of the Millennium, 
which was the common belief of his time." 

4. Victorintjs, Bishop of Pettau, flourished about a.d. 
290. In the fragment of his "Tractatus de Fabrica Cceli," 
his concurrence with the primitive Church in the expectation 
of a reign of Christ with his elect upon earth for a thousand 
years, is amply manifest. A translation of it is given by 
Greswell, On the Parables, vol. 1, p. 333. See Routh's Re- 
liquiae Sacrse, 3, pp. 455-461, 462; also Elliott's Horse Apoca- 
lypticse, 4, pp. 286-295. 

5. Methodius, Bishop of Tyre, flourished about the same 
period. Neander says of his Symposium that it exhibits " a 
decided leaning to Chiliasm," (Ec. Hist. 1, p. 721,) and re- 
fers in proof to Orat. 9, 75. So also, in his "Feast of the 



394 THE LAST TIMES. 

Ten Virgins," ninth discourse, he follows the Fathers gene* 
rally in making the seventh day of the creation a type of the 
Millennial sabbath, to enjoy which there is to be a literal 
resurrection of the saints, to be followed not by the annihila- 
tion of the world, but by its purification. 

6. Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, also of the third century, 
was another decided defender of Millenarian doctrines. He 
wrote a book, entitled "A Confutation of the Allegorists," 
which was specially directed against the school of Origen, 
which explained the Millennium figuratively. This work has 
not come down to us, but it is admitted to have been a work 
of eloquence and ability, and decidedly Millenarian. Cave 
pronounces Nepos a man skilled in the Holy Scriptures, a 
poet, and a Millenarian. Even Whitby admits that he taught 
that there shall be a kingdom of Christ upon earth a thou- 
sand years after the resurrection, in which the saints are to 
reign with their Redeemer. And Mosheim states that the 
book in which Nepos set forth these opinions was specially 
admired, and excited great interest and pleasure. (Historic. 
Comment. 2, pp. 249, 250.) 

7. Lactantius, referred to on p. 244, flourished about a.d. 
300. He was a very eloquent and accomplished Christian 
teacher, from whom we have more on this subject than from 
any other of the Fathers. The clearness and decidedness of 
his views on the Millennium render it very probable that 
Arnobius, from whom he had his Christian instruction, was 
also of this way of thinking. See especially his Divin. Institu. 
De Vita Beata, lib. vii. 14, (Lactanti Opera Omnia, Lipsiae, 
1698, pp. 524-532.) Refer also to lib. iv. 7, 12, 26; lib. vii. 
2, 15; and Epitome. 

8. Apollinarius, Bishop of Laodicea, who flourished in 
the first half of the fourth century, is also known to have 
been an advocate of Millenarianism. The testimony of Epi- 
phanius (1. 1031, A. B. Dimceritse, 26^ on this point is con- 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 395 

elusive. Jerome also puts him down as believing, with Ter- 
tullian, Lactautius, and Victorinus, that there is to be a per- 
sonal reign of Christ upon the earth, (III. 952, ad prin. in 
Ezech. xxxvi.) See Greswell On the Parables, I. pp. 334- 
336, where the passages are quoted and translated. 

9. The Council of Nice, a.d. 325, composed of about three 
hundred bishops of the Church from all sections of the world, 
has also expressed itself upon this subject, in those forms 01 
models of doctrine which it set forth for the use of the clergy ? 
much in the way of the Homilies published in the reign of 
Edward VI. Mede (Works, p. 813) gives an extract from 
one of these forms on the doctrine of the resurrectioD, as it 
is recorded by Gelassius Cyzicenus, in his history of the Acts 
of the Council of Nice, which explains the Scriptures in 
favor of the Millennium, or a happy, triumphant state of the 
Church on earth, in which the saints are to have a blessed 
inheritance and reward under the reign of Christ our Savior. 
The extract is also given in an English translation, by Thomas 
Hartley, (Paradise. Restored, pp. 225, 226,) who observes 
upon it that it is to be seen from it that " this doctrine 

[OF THE REIGN OF CHRIST WITH HIS SAINTS ON EARTH] 
STANDS UPON THE SAME AUTHORITY AS DOES THAT OF 

the nicene creed; and that this Council interprets that 
promise of our Savior, that the meek shall inherit or possess 
the earth, into a confirmation of, and identity of sense with, 
the same prophetical declarations to be found in many places 
of the Psalms and Prophets. See, in particular, Ps. xxxvii. 
11; lxix. 36, 37; cxlvii. 6; cxlix. 4; Isaiah xi. 4; xxvi. 6; 
xxix. 19." 

10. Sulpicius Severus, who lived about the middle of 
the fourth century, also believed in the same doctrine, as may 
be inferred from his Sacrse Historise, (ii. 4,) where he re- 
counts Nebuchadnezzar's dream respecting the little stone. 
Jerome also, in the passage referred to above, alludes to a 



396 THE LAST TIMES. 

book from him, called Gallus, in which he reports him as 
teaching on this subject the same as Lactantius, Irenaeus, 
and Apollinarius. See Grreswell On the Parables, vol. 1, 
pp. 335, 336. 

11. Augustine, the distinguished Bishop of Hippo, who 
flourished about the end of the fourth century, by his own 
confession was also once a decided Millenarian, though ho 
subsequently somewhat modified his views. See his work 
De Oivitate Dei, liber 22, cap. 7. And a careful examina- 
tion of his opinions will show that he never wholly relin- 
quished his Millenarian ideas. See his De Civ. Dei, lib. 20, 
capp. 5, 14, 16; Homilies, vol. 1, pp. 43, 70, 83, 252, 358, 
(Oxford ed.) He is usually rated as an anti-millenarian, as 
he doubtless was, in some particulars, in the latter part of his 
life; but his views do not harmonize at all with the doctrine 
of the conversion of the world and a millennium of peace 
and righteousness before Christ comes. 

12. Jerome, even, held that the world would reach its 
consummation in six thousand years, and that Christ would 
come at the end of that period, though he looked for no reign 
on the earth. See his Letter (139) to Cyprian, on Psalm 
xc. 4; also his comment on Micah iv. Nor could he rid him- 
self of certain misgivings in refusing to accept the doctrine 
of a literal Millennium, but on several occasions declared that 
he did not dare to condemn it, because of the high authori- 
ties by which it is supported. See his Preface to Isaiah lxv. ; 
and his comment on Jer. xix. 10. 

From the days of Jerome and Augustine, however, but 
little is heard of the doctrine of the Millennium and the 
personal reign of Christ with his saints on earth. As re- 
marked by Professor Bush, " through the dreary tract of the 
ages of darkness, scarcely a vestige of Millenarian sentiment 
is to be traced." But this is a consideration which makes 
much more in its favor thar against it. During that same 



THE FATHERS, THEIR OPINIONS AND WORKS. 397 

period there was hardly a doctrine of the gospel which did 
not suffer a like eclipse. The Church had become corrupt 
and vastly apostate, and the peculiarities which were most 
prominent in the primitive faith were all overlaid and thrust 
out of sight. It is enough to know that the doctrine of the 
Millennium and personal reign was the orthodox and catholic 
persuasion of the primitive Church ; that it held its ground 
as a vital part of the faith until heathen elements began to 
affect and mould the persuasions of certain prominent Chris- 
tian teachers; that it only began to wane as men began to 
Platonize, allegorize, and explain away the Scriptures, and to 
reject such portions as spurious which could not be made to 
harmonize with the new philosophy; and that the days of its 
greatest darkness and depression were the days when Popery 
reigned, and which all men have agreed to consider "the 
dark ages" 

"We close this chapter with a quotation from one of the 
Lord Bishops of Bristol, who says, " The doctrine of the Mil- 
lennium was generally believed in the three first and purest 
ages; and this belief, as the learned Dodwell has justly ob- 
served, was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primi- 
tive Christians : they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of 
being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs 
in the first resurrection. Afterwards the doctrine grew into 
disrepute, for various reasons. Some both Jewish and Chris- 
tian writers have debased it with a mixture of fables; they 
have described the kingdom more like a sensual than a spirit- 
ual kingdom, and thereby they have not only exposed them- 
selves, but (what is infinitely worse) the doctrine itself, to 
contempt and ridicule. It hath suffered by the misrepre- 
sentations of its enemies, as well as by the indiscretions of its 
friends: many, like Jerome, have charged the Millenarians 
with absurd and impious opinions which they never held ; 

and, rather than they would admit the truth of the doctrine, 

34 



398 THE LAST TIMES. 

they have not scrupled to call in question the genuineness of 
the book of Revelation. It hath been abused even to worse 
purposes: it hath been made an engine of faction; and tur- 
bulent fanatics, under the pretence of saints, have aspired to 
dominion and disturbed the peace of civil society. Besides,, 
wherever the influence and authority of the Church of Rome 
have extended, she hath endeavored by all means to discredit 
this doctrine; and indeed not without sufficient reason, this 
kingdom of Christ being founded on the ruins of the king- 
dom of Antichrist. No wonder, therefore, that this doctrine 
lay depressed for many ages, but it sprang up again at the 
Reformation, and will flourish together with the study of the 
Revelation." — Bishop Newton's Dissertations on the Pro- 
phecies, Analysis of the Rev., chap. xx. p. 527. 

For authorities on the Millenarianism of the early Church, 

consult the following : — 

Chilling worth, An Argument drawn from the Doctrine of 
the Millenaries against Papal Infallibility. See his Works, 
Phila. ed., 1844, pp. 729-734. 

Munscher, Dr. W., Handbuch der christliche Dogmenge- 
schichte, Marburg, 1817, pp. 408-434. 

Mosheim, Dr. J. L., Historical Commentaries, New York, 
1856, vol. 2, pp. 244-250. 

Hagenbach, Dr. K. R., History of Doctrines, New York, 
1861, vol. 1, pp. 213-217. 

Semisch, C, Herzog's Encyclop., Art. Chiliasm. This article 
is much abridged and enfeebled in Dr. Bomberger's trans- 
lation : hence see the original. Also The Life, Writings, 
and Opinions of Justin Martyr, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. 2, 
pp. 364-387. 

Corrodi, Kritische Geschichte des Chiliasmus, Frankfurt and 
Leipzig, 1781-3, 3 vols 12mo. This work contains much 
curious information, but is sarcastic, uncandid, and unsatis- 



AUTHORITIES ON THE EARLY CHURCH. 399 

factory. It was written to expose Chiliasm ; and to exhibit 
it in the most unfavorable light possible. It may, however, 
be read with profit -, though we dissent entirely from the 
rationalistic spirit and principles contained in it. 

Whitby, Dr. D., Treatise on the Millennium, &c. A strong 
effort to weaken the evidence that the early Christians were 
Millenarians, which, however, fails; as the author admits, 
upon the testimony of Justin and Irenaeus, that there were 
among the ancients " three sorts of men: 1. The Heretics, 
denying the resurrection of the flesh and the Millennium. 
2. The exactly orthodox, asserting both the 
resurrection and the kingdom of christ upon 
earth. 3. The believers who consented with the just and 
yet endeavored to allegorize and turn into metaphor all 
those scriptures produced for a proper reign of Christ, and 
who had sentiments rather agreeing with those heretics who 
denied, than those exactly orthodox who maintained, this 
reign of Christ on earth." Chap. I* 61. 

Greswell, Dr. E., Exposition of the Parables, Oxford, 1834, 
vol. 1, pp. 273-411. This is one of the fairest and clearest 
presentations of the views and testimony of the Fathers on 
this subject that we have anywhere seen. 

Kitto's Cyclopedia, Art. Millennium, furnishes some valu- 
able references to the subject. 

Brooks, J. W., Elements of Prophetical Interpretation, 
chapter 3, contains a very full statement. 

Taylor, D. T., Voice of the Church on the Coming and Reign 
of the Redeemer ; revised by Hastings, Phila., 1856. 

Tillotson, Dr. J., Works, London, 1820, vol. 10, pp. 392 
-403. 

Buck, D. D., Harmony and Exposition of Matt. xxiv. 
Buffalo, 1853, pp. 439-442. 

Dodgson, Rev. C, Tertullian Translated, Oxford, 1854, vol. 
1, N£te D, pp. 120-131. 



400 THE LAST TIMES. 



CHAPTER III. 

CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO MORE RECENT WRITERS AND 
WRITINGS ON THESE SUBJECTS. 

1. COMMENTARIES OP MILLENARIAN COMPLEXION. 

Die Berlenburger Bibel, 1726, Four large folio volumes, 
embracing an original German translation of the entire 
Scriptures, with copious notes and comments, by pious and 
learned German theologians of the time. A very valuable 
work, except in its taint of fanaticism. It has contributed 
largely to subsequent German commentaries. 

Gill's Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, six thick 
large 8vo vols. Valuable, more especially for the extensive 
acquaintance of the author with Rabbinical learning. 

Alford, Greek Testament, with Prolegomena, and a Critical 
and Exegetical Commentary, 4 vols, thick 8vo. One 
of the most thorough and satisfactory works of the kind 
that has been issued, especially the latest edition. 

Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament. This is an old 
standard, which still holds its place. The English transla- 
tion, by Fausset, is published in 5 vols. 8vo, by Smith, 
English & Co., Philadelphia. 

Olshausen, Biblical Commentary on the New Testament. 
Best edition in English is that edited by Dr. Kendrick, 
published by Sheldon, Blakeman & Co., New York. 

Stier, The Words of the Lord Jesus, 8 vols. 8vo, German and 
English. A learned and highly approved work. 

Greswell, Exposition of the Parables, and of other parts of 
the Gospels, 5 vols. 8vo. 

Keach, Exposition of the Parables of our Lord, in four 
books, 1 thick vol. royal 8vo. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 401 

Cocceius, John, Commentaries on most of the books of 
Holy Scripture, contained in his Opera Omnia, 12 vols, 
folio, 1701, particularly the first six volumes. A man of 
great distinction as a scholar, and "continually quoted and 
applauded by Vitringa for his piety, learning, and ability 
as an expositor of prophecy." 

Jarchi, Commentarius Hebraicus, 5 vols. 4to, 1710. 

Kimchi, David, Commentary on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
and the twelve minor prophets. A Spanish Jew, of great 
erudition, who lived in the thirteenth century. 

Abrabanel, Commentarius in quatuor priores libros prophe- 
tarum, Lug. Bat. 1686. 

Cumming, John, Foreshadows: Lectures on our Lord's Mira- 
cles; also on Parables; also Readings on various books 
of Scripture. 

Bonar, A., Commentary on the Book of Leviticus, small 
8vo; also Commentary on the Psalms, 8vo. 

Tait, William, Meditationes Hebraicse : A Doctrinal and 
Practical Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a 
series of Lectures. 2 vols. 8vo. 

Stuart, Moses, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 2 vols. 8vo 
In some of his writings (vide Hints on Interp. of Proph.) 
a violent and bitter opponent of Millenarian views, but in 
these volumes he concedes so much to them (particularly 
with reference to the twofold resurrection, the literal re- 
surrection of the martyrs at the commencement of the 
Millennium, and the orthodoxy of Millenarianism with the 
early Christians) as to entitle his work to be placed in this 
list. The exposition is learned and able, the fruit of much 
study, but not generally successful. 

Ryle ; J. C, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels. Plain, 
practical, impressive, and good. 

5, J. A., The Gospel in Leviticus, 1 vol. 12mo. Also, 
Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 vol. 8vo. Also, 
2 A 34* 



402 THE LAST TIMES. 

The Parable of the Ten Virgins, in six discourses, 1 vol. 
12mo. Also, A Lecture on 2 Peter iii. 3-14, 12mo. 

Jones, Judge Joel, Notes on Scripture, 1 vol. large 8vo, 
1861. A valuable book from the pen of the editor of The 
Literalist. 

Lillte, John, Lectures on the Epistles to the Thessalonians, 
8vo, 1860. An able and instructive production. 

ScHMUCKER, J. Gr., Prophetic Hist, of Christian Church; or, 
Exposition of the Revelation of St. John; 2 vols. 12mo, 
1817-21. Very clear on the doctrine of the Millennium, 
but fanciful in his reckoning of dates. A pious and amia- 
ble Lutheran divine. 

Daubuz, Charles, A Perpetual Commentary on the Revela- 
tion of St. John; best edition by P. Lancaster, London, 
one vol. 4to, 1730. An elaborate and very useful work, 
to which later writers have been much indebted. 

Koppius, or Koppe, J. B. I., Com. in Epist. ad Thessaloni- 
enses, at the end of which is an Excursus concerning the 
kingdom of Christ. Latin. Also an English translation in 
The Investigator of Prophecy, Yol. II. 

Altingius, Jacobus, Com. in Jeremiam Prophetam, fol., 
Anist., 1688. Also Spes Israelis; or Com. Eccles. in cap. 
11 ad Rom., etc., 1 vol. 4to, 1676. 

Fry, John, Explanatory and Practical on Epist. to the 
Romans, 8vo, 1816; also Canticles, new translation with 
notes, &c, 8vo, 1811; also Lyra Davidis, a new transla- 
tion and exposition of the Psalms, 8vo, 1842. 

Sirr, Dr. J. de Arcy, Notes on the G-ospel of St. Luke, 1843. 

Wells, Dr. Ed. The Book of Daniel Explained, &c, 8vo, 
Oxford, 1716. Also, A Commentary on the Book of Reve- 
lation, 4to, 1717. 

Burroughes, Jeremiah, Exposition of the Prophesie of 
Hosea; new ed., with notice of the author, by Sherman, 
imperial 8vo, 1843. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TC RECENT WRITERS. 408 

Piscator, John, Commentarii in omnes libros Veteris et JSfbvi 

Testamenti; 5 vols, in 3, Herb., 1646. A learned divine, 

once a Lutheran, afterwards a Calvinist. 
Caryl, Joseph, Exposition, with Practical Observations on 

the Book of Job, 12 vols. 4to, London, 1647-66. "A 

rich fund of critical and practical divinity." 
Gouge, Wm., A learned and very useful Commentary on the 

whole Epistle to the Hebrews, &c, being the substance 

of 30 years' Wednesday's lectures, 2 vols, folio, London, 

1655. 
Lange, Joach., Commentatio de Vita et Epistoli Pauli, 4to, 

Halse, 1718. 
PASSAVANT, J. C, Versuch einer prakt. Auslegung des Brief es 

Pauli an die Philipper, Basel, 1834; also, Auslegung des 

Briefes Pauli an die Epheser, Basel, 1836. 
Spener, Ph. J., Pauli Epistolse ad Romanos et Corinth, 

homiletica paraphrasi illustr.; Francof., 1691. 
Coke, Thomas, LL.D., Commentary on the Old and New 

Testaments, 6 vols. 4to, London, 1803. 
Demarest, John T., A Translation and Exposition of the 

First Epistle of Peter, New York, 1851. 
Delitzsch, Dr. Franz, Die Genesis ausgelegt; Leipzig, 

1853. Das Hohenlied untersucht und ausgelegt, Leipzig, 

1851. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of 

Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John; Opera Omnia, 

vol. 5, p. 297; also separate, 4to, London, 1733. 
Ebrard, Dr. J. H A., Die Offenbarung Johannes erhldrt ; 

Konigsberg, 1853; also his comments on other portions 

of the New Testament, in continuation of Olshausen's 

Biblisches Commentar. 
Lisco, Fried. G-ustav., Das Neue Testament, mit Erkl'arun- 

gen, Einleitungen, &c. Berlin, 1835 ; especially the appen- 
dix, Vom Reich Gottes. 



404 THE LAST TIMES. 

Skeen, Robert, The Unsealed Prophecy: Lectures on the 
Revelation of St. John, small 8vo, London, 1857. 

Haldane, Rob., Esqr., Exposition of the Epistle to the Ro- 
mans; reprinted, New York, 1860. 

2. COMMENTARIES DEVOTED MORE PARTICULARLY TO THE EXHIBITION 
OF MILLENARIAN DOCTRINES. 

Mede, Joseph, Clavis Apocalyptica, Latin and English. 
Also, Exposition on Peter. "One of the profoundest 
Biblical scholars of the English Church/' died 1638. His 
Expositions have been considered "invaluable, deserving 
and repaying the closest study." 

Brightman, Thomas, A most comfortable Exposition of the 
last and most difficult part of the Prophecie of Daniel, 4to, 
1644. Also, A Revelation of the Apocalypse, containing 
an Exposition of the whole Book of St. John, 4to, 1644 
A Puritan divine, who "obtained a high character for 
learning, piety, and sweetness of temper." 

Bengel, John Albert, Exposition of the Apocalypse, con- 
taining a new version, with a running Commentary, pre- 
faced with an Introduction giving a general view of the 
whole prophecy, and followed by an Appendix of seven 
sections, embracing — 1. A table of the Chronology, (very 
peculiar.) 2. An attempt to determine more accurately 
the times of the Beast. 3. Characteristics of genuine in- 
terpretation. 4. An account of men's expectations from 
age to age in reference to prophecy. 5. Prophetic exposi- 
tion with respect to its influence on men's actions. 6. Ex- 
amination of some other prophecies. 7. Salutary advices. 
Most of this work was translated into English by John 
Robertson. A very full analysis of it is given in Burk's 
Memoir of the Life and "Writings of Bengel. 

Also, Sixty Practical Addresses {Reden fur's Volk.) on 
the Apocalypse, wit! various Appendixes or Gleanings. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 405 

Bengel was a Lutheran theologian "of profound critical 
judgment, extensive learning, and solid piety," born 1687, 
died 1752. He was one of the greatest of Apocalyptic 
writers. 

Goodwin, Thomas, An Exposition upon the Rev elation ,16^ r 9, 
contained in the second volume of his Works, 5 vols, folio, 
London, 1681. A celebrated Dissenter, member of the 
Assembly of Divines, and one of the two men whom "Wood 
calls "the two Atlases and Patriarchs of Independency." 

Lange, Joachim, Apokalyptisches Licht und Recht; 1 vol. 
fol., 1735. Theological Professor at Halle, and one of the 
fathers of the Pietistic school of Lutheran divines. 

AUBERLEN, The Prophecies of Daniel, and the Revelation of 
St. John, viewed in their mutual relation, with an exposi- 
tion of the principal passages,. German and English, 1 vol. 
12mo. 

Elliott, E. B., Horse Apocalypticse : A Critical Historical 
Com. on the Apocalypse, 4 vols. 8vo. A learned and use- 
ful exposition, characterized by Cumming as "a noble and 
precious work." There is appended to 4th vol. a very 
valuable and thorough " Sketch of the History of Apoca- 
lyptic Interpretation." 

Lord, David N., An Exposition of the Apocalypse, 1 vol. 
8vo. An able work from the editor of the Theological and 
Literary Journal ; contains a valuable presentation of the 
laws of symbolization. 

Buck, D. D., An Original Harmony and Exposition of 
Matt, xxiv., 1 vol. 8vo, 1853. A clear and forcible book, 
richly rewarding the reader. 

Cumming, John, Apocalyptic Sketches: Lectures on the 
Book of Revelation ; 3 vols. 12mo. Eloquent and full of 
interest 

Frere, James Hatley, Esq., A combined view of the Pro- 
phecies of Daniel, Esdras, and St. John, showing that aL 



406 THE LAST TIMES. 

the prophetic writings are formed upon one plan. Also A 
minute Explanation of the Prophecies of Daniel; 1 vol. 
8vo, 1815. Also Notes on the Interpretation of the Apo- 
calypse, 1 vol. 8vo, 1850. 

Pitcairn, Dayid, Zion's King: The Second Psalm Ex- 
pounded in the Light of History and Prophecy ; 1 vol. small 
8vo, 1851. 

Bloomsbtjry Lectures, 3d Series, (by error called 4th in 
the preface,) 1845. Duties and Privileges of Christians 
in Connection with the Second Advent, as unfolded in the 
First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians. 

Carleton, H., Analysis of the 2Ath Chapter of Matthew, 
Windsor, Vt., 1851. 

Waple, Archdeacon E., "Book of Revelation Para- 
phrased," 4to, 1715. 

Woodhouse, Dr. J. C, The Apocalypse, or the Revelation 
of St. John, translated, with Notes, critical and explana- 
tory, royal 8vo, London, 1805. 

Wickes, Thomas, An Exposition of the Apocalypse, 12mo, 
New York, 1851. 

Bliss, Sylvester, A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse, 
18mo, Boston, 1853. 

Roos, Mag. Fred., An Exposition of the Prophecies of 
Daniel, and a comparison of them with the Revelation of 
St. John; (German,) Leipsic, 1770; second ed., 1795. 
The same, translated into English by Dr. E. Henderson, 
8vo, London, 1811. Also, Plain and Edifying Discourses 
on the Revelation of St. John, 1788. Also, A Familiar 
Exposition of the Revelation of St. John, 8vo, 1789. "A 
great investigator of Scripture/' says Delitzsch. 

Sander, Fred., An Attempt at an Exposition of the Revela- 
tion of St. John; Stuttgart, 1829 (German). 

Kohler, Dr. Aug., Die Weissagungen Haggais erklart ; 
Erlangen, 1860. 



CLASSIFIED BEFEBENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 407 

8. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS SETTING FORTH MILLENARIAN DOCTRINES, 
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, ACCORDING TO THE NAMES OF THEIB 
AUTHORS.* 

Abbadie, Db. J., Sur la regne glorieux de Jesu Christ sur la 

terre. Sermons. 
Abdiei/s Essays on the Advent, &c, 12nio, London, 1834. 
Advent, Second, The Words of Scripture concerning the } 

London. 

Connected View of some of the Scriptural Evidences 

of &c, 12mo, Lond. 

Review of Scripture in Testimony of Truth of &c. By 

a Layman, 8vo, 1819. 

The True Hope of Believers, Dublin, 1833. 

Advent Tracts, 2 vols. 18mo, Boston, containing short 

papers from various authors, including Miller, Himes, 
Brock, Haldane, Stewart, and others in Europe and 
America. 

Alabasteb, Wm., D.D., Ecce Sponsus venit ; seu tuba pul- 
chritudinis, etc., 1 vol. 4to, London, 1633. Also, Apara- 
tus in Rev. Jesu Christi; 4to, Antw., 1607. 

Alleine, Wm., The Mystery of the Temple and City in the nine 
last chapters of Ezehiel unfolded, &c, London, 12mo, 1677. 

Alstedius, J. H., The Beloved City; or, The Saints' Reign 
on Earth a thousand years asserted and illustrated, from 
sixty places of Holy Scripture, besides the judgment of 
holy, learned men. Likewise thirty-five objections against 
this truth answered ; faithfully Englished (from the Latin) 
by W. Burton ; 4to, London, 1643. 

* The asterisk [*] prefixed to names or works in this list is meant to 
designate authors or publications which, in small space and popular form, 
give the best presentations of the subject, and which are particularly com- 
mended to those who are beginners in the study, or who have not the time 
or means to go into it more extensively. The main questions will be found 
rery clearly discussed in either of the authora or writings so marked. 



408 THE LAST TIMES. 

Amelote, Pere, Notes sur V Apocalypse ; a French Catholic 
writer. 

Anderson, Wm., Apology for the Millennial Doctrine in the 
form in which it was entertained by the primitive Church. 
Two parts, 1830-31, 1842. Also A Letter to the author 
of "Millenarianism Indefensible/' 8vo, 1834. "An able 
writer." 

Apocalypsis Keserata; or, The Rev. of St. John Ex- 
plained: in three parts; (German,) 8vo, Christianopoli, 
1653. 

Archer, John, The Personall Reigne of Christ upon Earthy 
showing that there shall be such a kingdom ; the manner 
of it ; the duration of it ; and the time when it is to begin ; 
1 vol. 4to, 1643. Scarce. 

Armageddon; or y A Warning Voice from the Last Battle- 
Field of Nations; by a Master of Arts of the University of 
Cambridge; 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1858. A diffuse but 
able work, containing much information. 

Atlas of Prophecy, being the Prophecies of Daniel and 
St. John, with a simple Exposition, and a series of fourteen 
maps and charts exhibiting their fulfilment; 4to, 1849, 
London. 

Bauer, Fr., Der sogenannte Chiliasmus ; Einwort zur Ver- 
st'andigung fur unsere Zeit; Nordlingen, 1860. 

Baxter, Rev. M., Louis Napoleon, the destined Monarch 
of the World, and Personal Antichrist ; 12mo, Philadel- 
phia, 1863. Also several smaller works. 

Baxter, Robert, Esqr., Prophecy the Key of Providence; 
large 12mo, London, 1861. 

Bayford, John, Esq., Messiah's Kingdom; or, a brief in- 
quiry concerning what is revealed in Scripture relative to 
the fact, the time, the signs, and the circumstances of the 
Second Advent; Lond., 8vo, 1820; also, Reply to Rev. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 409 

J. E. Jones on Modern Millenarianism, 8vo, London, 
1824. 

*Begg, jAMES,_Connected view of Scripture Evidence of the 
Redeemer's personal return and reign, 12mo, 1831 ; Letters 
to a Minister on Matt, xxiii., xxiv., xxv., 12mo, 1831 ; Argu- 
ment for the Coming of the Lord at Commencement of Millen- 
nium, 12mo, 1844; The First Resurrection, 12mo, 1832. 

Ben Ezra (Lacunza), La Venida del Mesias en Gloria 
y Magestad; 4 vols. 8vo, 1816 (Spanish); also in Eng- 
lish, translated by Edward Irving, 2 vols. 8vo, 1827. 

Beverly, Thomas, Pamphlets, thirty in number, mostly on 
prophetic subjects, 4to, 1670-1699; also, Scripture Line 
of Time drawn in brief from the Lapsed Creation to the Resti- 
tution of all Things, 4to, 1684. 

*Bickersteth, Ed., Practical Guide to the Prophecies, 12mc, 
London, 1835. Also, The Restoration of the Jews, 12mo, 
1841. Also, The Signs of the Times in the East, &c, 
12mo, 1845. Also, Th* Promised Glory of the Church, 
12mo, 1844. A learned man, of a most amiable, candid, 
and devout spirit. Hi? writings are very useful. 

Biencho, James, The Signs of the Times, in two parts, 8vo, 
1792-4 ; The Restoration of the Jews, the Crisis of all 
Nations, &c, 8vo, 1800. 

BiRKS, T. R., First Elements of Sacred Prophecy, 12mo. 
The Four Prophetic Empires, 8vo. Also other works. 
An attractive and able writer. 

Bliss, Sylvester, Analysis of Sacred Chronology, &c. 
Boston, 18mo, 1840. 

Bloomsbury Lent Lectures, 10 vols. 12mo, London. 
First Series, 1843 : The Second Coming, the Judgment, 
and the Kingdom of Christ, by Villiers, Pym, Goodhart, 
Dalton, Brooks, Birks, Dallas, Freemantle, Bickersteth, and 
Stewart; with a preface by Bickersteth. 

Second Series, 1844: The Second Coming of Christ 

35 



410 THE LAST TIMES. 

practically considered, by Auriol,Pym, Hoare, Birks, Brock, 
Grimshawe, Marsh, Bates, Bickersteth, Philpot, and Vil- 
liers ; with a preface by Villiers. 

Third Series, 1845: The Hope of the Apostolic Church; 
or the Duties and Privileges of Christians in connection 
with the Second Advent, &c, by Bickersteth, Woodrooffe, 
Niven, Goodhart, Bates, Lillingston, Barker, Birks, Brock, 
Villiers, Marsh, and Dibdin; with preface by Birks. 

Fourth Series, 1846: Israel's Sins and Israel's Hopes, 
by Bickersteth, Goodhart, Birks, Dalton, Freemantle, Fisk, 
Dallas, Brock, Pym, Lillingston, Villiers, and Stewart; 
with preface by Dr. Marsh. 

Fifth Series, 1847 : Good Things to Come, by Dallas, 
McCaul, Dibdin, Freemantle, Bickersteth, Pym, Cadman, 
Birks, Stewart, Goodhart, Lillingston, and Villiers; with 
preface by Pym. 

Sixth Series, 1848 : Lift up your Heads. Glimpses of 
Messiah's Glory, by Goodhart, Dallas, Stewart, Cadman, 
Wilson, Freemantle, Pym, Noel, Philpot, Bickersteth, 
Birks, and Villiers; with preface by Dallas. 

Seventh Series, 1849: The Priest upon his Throne, by 
Freemantle, Auriol, Stewart, McNeile, Hoare, Goodhart, 
Birks, Bickersteth, Philpot, Brock, Pym, and Villiers; 
with preface by Stewart. 

Eighth Series, 1850 : God's Dealings with Israel, by 
Freemantle, Goodhart, Reichardt, Villiers, Harrison, Hoare, 
Holland, Wigram, Birks, McNeile, Nolan, and Cadman ; 
with preface by Dalton. 

Ninth Series, 1851 : Popish Darkness and Millennial 
Light, by Cadman, McNeile, Kyle, Harrison, Hoare, Good- 
hart, Nolan, Freemantle, Birks, Dallas, Pym, and Villiers; 
with a preface by Dalton. 

Tenth Series, 1852 : The Millennial Kingdom, by Pym, 
Cadman, Birks, Stewart, Brock, Philpot, Goodhart, Hoare, 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 411 

Woodrooffe, Freeman tie, Harrison, and Villiers; with pre- 
face by Freemantle. 

*Bonar, A. A., Redemption draweth nigh, 12mo, Lon- 
don, 1847. Development of Antichrist, 12mo, London, 
1853. 

*Bonar, H., Coming of the Lord Jesus, small 8vo, 1849; Pro- 
phetical Landmarks, 12mo, 1859 ; Apostolicity of Chiliasm. 

*Brooks, J. W., Elements of Prophetical Interpretation, 
12mo, 1836. Abdiel's Essays on the Kingdom of 
Christ, 12mo, 1834. A calm, impressive, and instructive 
writer. 

*Bryant, Alfred, Millenarian Views, with reasons for re- 
ceiving them, &c, New York, 1852. "Excellently adapted 
to remove misconception, disarm prejudice, and conciliate 
faith." 

Burgh, W., Lectures on the Second Advent, &c, 12mo, 
1835 } and various discourses and expositions. 

Burroughes, J., Jerusalem's Glory breaking forth in the 
world, &c. immediately before the Second Coming of 
Christ; small 8vo, Lond., 1675. A member of the West- 
minster Assembly, and an eminent divine. 

Christ's Speedy Return in Glory, &c, London, 4th ed., 
1831. 

Clayton, Bishop Robert, Dissertation on the Prophecies, 
&c, 8vo, Lond., 1749; also An Inquiry into the Time of 
the Coming of the Messiah, 8vo, Lond., 1751. An author 
deeply versed in Rabbinical learning. 

Coleman, J. N., Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical, eluci- 
dating the doctrine of the Trinity, the Sovereignty of G-od, 
the Power of the Devil in the world, the Duty of studying 
Prophecy, the Intermediate State, the Knowledge of each 
other in the Life to Comn, the Millennial Reign of Christ 
on Earth, &c, 8vo ; 1827. 



412 THE LAST TIMES. 

Comenius, Jno. Amos, Lux e Tenebris, etc., 4to, 1665. 

Cooper, Ed., The Crisis, &c, 8vo, London, 1825. 

Costa, Dr. Isaac Da, Israel und die Volker, Frankfort, 
1854; written originally in Hollandish; translated also 
into English, and published by Nesbit & Co., London, under 
the title of Israel and the Gentiles. A converted Jew, of 
many rich gifts. 

Cox, John, The Millenarian' s Answer, to which is added a 
brief History of Millenarianism, London, 1832; Thoughts 
on the Coming and Kingdom of Christ, 1836; The Future, 
&c, 12mo, 1862. 

Cressener, Dr. Drue, The Judgments of God, &c, 4to, 
1689; Protestant Applications of the Apocalypse, 4to, 
1690. A writer much commended. 

Crool, Rabbi Joseph, Restoration of Israel. 

Cumming, John, The End, 1 vol. 12mo; The Great Pre- 
paration, 2 vols. 12mo; The Great Tribulation, 2 vols. 
12mo; Voices of the Day, and of the Night, 2 vols. 12mo; 
and various other works. A prolific author, very eloquent 
and impressive, but not always accurate and self-consistent. 

CuNNlNGHAME, W., Esq., Dissertation on the Seals arid 
Trumpets, 8vo, 1832; Conversion and National Restora- 
tion of Israel, 8vo, 1822 ; Scriptural Argument for the 
pre- Millennial Advent, &c, 12mo, 1833; Political Des- 
tiny of the Earth as Revealed in the Bible, 12mo, 1834; 
andVarious other works. An able and voluminous writer 
on the prophecies. 

Darby, J. N., The Hopes of the Church of God, &c, 12mo, 

London, 1849. 
Das Tausendjahrige Reich gehort nicht der Vergangen- 

heit, sondern der Zukunft an. Giitersloh, 1860. 
Davis , Woodbury, The Beautifid City and the King of 

Glory; Philadelphia, 1860. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECFNT WRITERS. 413 

Drummond, Henry, Esq., Dialogues on Prophecy, 2 vols. 
8vo, London, 1828. Contain the sentiments of various 
eminent modern writers on Prophecy, as delivered in pri- 
vate discussion or in their published works; also, Defence 
of the Students of Prophecy, in answer to the attacks of 
Dr. Hamilton, 8vo, London, 1828. Somewhat crude and 
unsatisfactory in some of the presentations. 

*Duffield, Dr. George, Dissertation on the Prophecies rela- 
tive to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, 12nio; Mille- 
narianism Defended, 12mo; Reply to Stuart, 12mo, 1843. 
A writer of ability and earnestness. 

Durant, John, The Salvation of the Saints by the Appear- 
ances of Christ, &c, 8vo, 1653. "A delightful Mille- 
narian writer/ ' 

Eight Lectures on Prophecy, 12mo, Dublin; no date. 
Elliott, Dr. E. B., Destinies and Perils of the Church as 

predicted in Scripture, London, 8vo. 
Enoch, A small volume without name of the author, London, 

1849. 
Enquiry, An, into the Second Coming of our Savior, &c, 

8vo, London, 1795. Also, by the same author, Further 

Considerations on the Second Advent of Christ, &c, 8vo, 

London, 1796. 
Extracts on Prophecy, chiefly the approaching Advent 

and Kingdom of Christ, from Burgh, Anderson, Noel, Cun- 

ninghame, Irving, Begg, Mede, &c, 12mo, Glasgow, 1835. 

A good volume on the subject. 
Eyre, Joseph, Observations on the Prophecies relating to the 

Restoration of the Jews; 8vo, London, 1797. 

Faber, George Stanley, Dissertation on the Prophecies, 

2 vols. 8vo, 1806; also, Sacred Calendar of Prophecy ; 

3 vols. 8vo, 1828. A writer of much learning, pious and 

35* 



414 THE LAST TIMES. 

able; his works are valuable, but not Millenarian on all 
points. 

Farmer. Joseph, A Sober Inquiry ; or, Chri jt's Reign with 
his Saints modestly asserted from the Scriptures. A small 
volume, published in 1660; republished, New York, 1843. 
" The spirit of this little piece of antiquity is admirable, 
calm, candid, and Christian." 

First Resurrection, The Nature of, and the Character and 
Principles of those that shall partake of it, with an appen- 
dix. London, 8vo, 1819. 

Flemming, Robert, Jr., The First Resurrection, Lond., 
1708 ; also other works bearing on Millenarian questions. 

Floerke, W., Die Lehre vom Tausendjariche Reiche, Mar- 
burg, 1859. 

Fox, John, the famous martyrologist, Christus Triumphans : 
Comcedia Apocalyptica ; Basel, 1556, London, 1672. A 
very curious production, but very decided in its Millenarian 
sentiments. 

Frere, James Hatley, Esqr., TJie Revolution — the Expi- 
ration of the Times of the Gentiles, 8vo, 1848; The Harvest 
of the Earth, 12mo, 1846. 

Frey, Jos. S. C. F., Judah and Israel; or the Restoration 
and Conversion of the Jews and the Ten Tribes, 12mo, 
New York, 1841. Also, Joseph and Benjamin; a Series 
of Letters, 2 vols. 12mo, ninth ed., 1842. 

Friday Evening : An Attempt to demonstrate that we are 
now living late in the Sixth Day of the Millenary Week, &c, 
8vo, London, 1822. 

Friederich, Pastor, of Wingerhatjsen, A Look into the 
Times of Antichrist, &c. (Grerman). 

Fry, John, Second Advent, or the Glorious Epiphany of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, &c, 2 vols 8vo, 1822. "Full of use- 
ful thoughts." 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 415 

Gasparin, Madame de, The Near and the Heavenly Hori- 
zon; New York, 1862. 

Gaussen, M., Les Juifs evangelists enfin, et retablis; a Dis- 
course; Toulouse, 1855. 

Gilfillan, Geo., Christianity and our Era; a book for the 
times, 8vo, Edinburgh, 1857. 

Gill, Dr. John, Sermon on the Glory of the Church of the 
Latter Day; 1752. 

Girdlestone, Henry, The Hope of Israel, 12mo, London. 

Gregg, Dr. T. D., The Mystery of God Finished, &c, 8vo, 
London, 1861. 

Guers, E., Israel aux derniers jours de V economic actuelle, 
ou Essai sur la restauration prochaine de cje peuple, suivi 
d'un fragment sur le Millenarisme ; Paris, 1856. Also 
in German, Leipzig, 1860, entitled Israels Zukunft. 

Habershon, Matthew, Esqr., An Historical Dissertation 
on the Prophetic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, 
&c., 8vo, 1840. Also Pre-Millennial Hymns, 18mo, 1841. 

Hahn, J. M., Brief e und Lieder iiber die Offenbarung. 
Works, vol. 5, Tubingen, 1820. 

Hales, W., New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, 
History and Prophecy, upon Scriptural and Scientific 
Principles, &c, 4 vols. 8vo, 1830. 

Hallet, Joseph, A free and impartial study of the Holy 
Scriptures recommended ; being Notes on some peculiar 
texts, with discourses and observations on various subjects, 
3 vols. 8vo, London, 1729-36. "An able work." 

Harkness, Rev. J., Messiah's Throne and Kingdom, &c. 
12mo, New York, 1855. 

Hartly, Thomas, Paradise Restored; or a testimony to the 
doctrine of the blessed Millennium, small 8vo, London, 
1764. This book was endorsed by John Wesley: see his 
Works, vol. 6, p. 743. 



416 THE LAST TIMES. 

Hastings, H. L., Signs of the Times, 12mo, Boston, 1862. 

Hatherell, Dr. J. W., The Signs of the Second Advent 
of our blessed Lord, 12mo, 1858. 

Hawtrey, C. S., The Nature of the First Resurrection, &c, 
8vo, London, 1815. 

Heath, D. J., The Future Kingdom of Clirist; or, Man's 
Heaven to be this Earth. A solution of the Calvinistic and 
other chief difficulties in theology, by distinguishing the 
saved nations from the glorified saints; 8vo, London, 1852. 

Henshaw, Bishop J. P. K. ; Lectures on Second Advent; 
12mo, 1842. 

Hess, Jno. Jacob, Vom Reich Gottes; Ein Versuch uber 
den Plan der gottlichen Anstalten und Offenbarungen ; 2 
vols. 8vo, 1774 ; also other works. One of the most emi- 
nent and learned divines of the Swiss Reformed Church. 

Hoffman, Dr. W., Maranatha: Predigten und Betrach- 
tungen iiber die Weissagungen des neuen Bundes, 8vo, 
Berlin, 1858. 

Hofmann, Dr. J. Ch. Kon.; Weissagung und Erfullung im 
Alt. und Neu. Test., 2 vols. 8vo, Nordlingen, 1841-4. 

Holgate, J. B., Conversations on the Present Age of the 
World in connection with Prophecy, small 8vo, Albany, 
1853. 

Homes, Nathaniel, The Resurrection Revealed; or, the 
Dawning of the Daystar, &c; folio, London, 1654. Also, 
Ten Exer citations : 1. That Chiliasm rightly stated is no 
error. 2. The manner and measure of the burning world. 
3. Touching Gog and Magog. 4. Concerning Covenants, 
Adamic, Jewish, and Christian. 5. About the Liberty of 
Man's Will. 6. Of the Two Witnesses. 7. The Character 
of Antichrist. 8. Touching Hell. 9. The Groaning of the 
Creature. 10. Scripture prognostics of the future state of 
the Church. Folio, London, 1661. A learned author, 
*vho elucidates Scripture with great ability. A revised 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 417 

edition of both these works, omitting matter thought un- 
important, was published by the editor of The Investigator 
of Prophecy, in 1 vol. 8vo, London, 1833. 

Hooper, John, The Doctrine of the Second Advent, briefly 
stated, 12mo, London, 1829; also, The Present Crisis, 
considered in relation to the blessed hope of the glorious 
appearing, &c., 12mo, Lond., 1831; also, The Revelation 
of Jesus Christ Explained, &c, 8vo, London, 1846; new 
ed., including Exposition of Daniel, 1847. 

Hort, Robert, Sermon on the Glorious Kingdom of Christ 
upon Earth, or the Millennium; reprinted, Dublin, 1748; 
new ed., 8vo, 1821. 

Hussey, Joseph, The Glory of Christ Unveiled; 4to, Lon- 
don, 1706. "An author of some distinction." 

Illustrations of Prophecy, &c, first published in 1799; 
the edition of 1828 is by Rev. W. Vint. It contains valu- 
able extracts from various authors. 

Imbrie, C. K., TJie Kingdom of God; a Discourse, 1850. 
Candid and forcible. 

Inglis, James, The Destiny of the Earth under its Coming 
King, 12mo, New York, 1854. 

Investigator of Prophecy, or 41y Expositor, 4 vols. 8vo, 
London, 1831-5. 

*Irving, Ed., The Last Days, &c, with preface by H. Bonar, 
large 12mo, London, 1850. A work of marked ability, 
" stamped throughout with irrepressible genius, yet breath- 
ing everywhere the spirituality and fervor of the man of 
God." Also, The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Ma- 
jesty, translated from the Spanish of J. J. Ben Ezra, alias 
Emanuel Lacunza, a Spanish Jesuit, said to have been a 
converted Jew; 2 vols. 8vo, 1827. A work which throws 
much light on the subject of unfulfilled prophecy. 
2B 



118 THE LAST TIMES. 

Janeway, Dr. J. J., Hope for the Jews, &c, New Bruns- 
wick, 1853. 

Jerram, Charles, An Essay to show the ground contained 
in Scripture for expecting a Restoration of the Jews, 8vo, 
1796. 

Jewish Repository, afterwards Expositor and Friend of 
Israel, 8vo, Lond., 1813-31. 

Jews, TJie Destiny of, &c, in a course of Lectures at St. 
Bride's, Liverpool, by several clergymen ; 12mo, 1841. 

Journal, The, Theological and Literary, Edited by 
David N. Lord, and published by Franklin Knight, New 
York, 13 vols. 8vo, 1849-61. A valuable Review, devoted 
mostly to prophecy. 

Jukes, Andrew, The Mystery of the Kingdom of God, 
London. 

Jurieu, Peter, L'accomplissement des Propheties, ou la 
delivrance prochaine de l'Eglise, 2 vols, in one, 12mo, 
Roter., 1686. Also the same in English, 8vo, London, 
1687. 

Keith, Dr. Alex., The Land of Israel according to the 
Covenant, 12mo, Edinburgh, 1843. The Signs of the 
Times, &c, 2 vols. 12mo, 1847. The Harmony of Pro- 
phecy, &c, 12mo, New York, 1851. 

King, Edward, Morsels of Criticism, tending to illustrate 
some few passages in the Holy Scriptures, &c, Lond., 4to, 
1788; reprinted in 3 vols. 8vo, Lond., 1800; also Remarks 
on the Signs of the Times. A learned antiquarian. 

Kingdom of Christ, here on Earth with his Saints, Survey 
of; 12mo, London, 1699. 

Kirkwood, Robert, Lectures on the Millennium, 12mo, N. 
York, 1856. 

Klettwich, Simon Phil., How long the jpresent world will 
continue, &c, (German), Muhlhaus. 1699. Also, Useful 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 419 

Information concerning Pietism; or a statement of the 
real faith and doctrine of the so-called Pietists, (German,) 
4to, 1700; and sundry Tracts against Giblehr and Eilmar. 
KNIGHT, Dr. James, On the Conflagration and Renovation 
of the World, from 2 Peter iii. 10-13. London, 1734, 8vo j 
reprinted, 1736. 

Labagh, I. P., Twelve Lectures on the Great Events of Un- 
fulfilled Prophecy, &c, New York, 1859. A good pre- 
sentation to the common reader of the subjects treated. 

Lambert, le Pere, Expositions des predictions et promes- 
sesfaites a V JEglise pour les dernier s temps de la Gentilite ; 
2 vols. 12mo, Paris, 1806; also translated into German, by 
Von Mayer, at Frankfort. " A striking testimony to the 
premillennial advent, restoration of the Jews, and reign 
of Christ, by a French Roman Catholic." 

Lancaster, P., Interpretation of the Seventy Weeks of Dan- 
iel, 4to, 1722. Also, Dictionary of Prophetic Symbols, 
8vo, 1842, edited by Habershon. 

Lange, Dr. Joachim, Gloria Christi et Ohristianism., etc. } 
folio, Amst. et Lips., 1740. 

Lavater, Jno. C, Aussichten in die Ewigheit, in Briefen 
an Job. Geo. Zimmerman, 3 vols, small 12mo, Zurich, 
1773. 

Leutwein, C. F. P., Die Nahe d. grossen allg. Versuchung, 
u. der sichtbaren Ankunft unseres Herrn zur Errichtung 
seines sichtbaren Reiches auf Erden. Tubingen. 

Lewis, Seth, Esqr., TJie Restoration of the Jews, with the 
political destiny of the nations of the earth, &c, New 
York, 1851. A writer of strong sense, candor, and reve- 
rence for God's word. 

Lillie, Jno., Tlie Perpetuity of the Earth, with Notes on 
the Millenarian Controversy, 18mo, N. York, 1842. A 
clear and forcible argument. 



420 THE LAST TIMES. 

Litch, JosiAH. Messiah's Throne and Millennial Glory, 
Boston, 1855, I2mo. 

*Literalist, The, 5 vols. 8vo, Philadelphia, 1840-1841 ; 
edited by Judge Jonas, and consisting of republications 
from Brooks, Woodward, McNeil, Noel, Bickersteth, An- 
derson, Cunninghame, Cox, Thorpe, Habershon, Sirr, and 
others. A collection of Millenarian works of great value. 

Loader, Thomas, The Millennium, or Joy and Salvation to 
the World for 1000 Years; 8vo, London, 1812. 

Looker-On, A View of the late momentous events as con- 
nected icith the Latter Days, &c, 8vo, London, 1830. 

*Lord, D. N., Esqr., The Coming and Reign of Christ, 12mo, 
New York, 1858. An able work. 

Lord, N., The Improvement of the Present State of Things, 
a Discourse to the Students of Dartmouth College ; Hano- 
ver, 1853. Also TJie Millennium, an Essay read to the 
General Convention of N. Hampshire ; Hanover, 1854. 

Maitland, Charles, M.D., The Apostles' School of Pro- 
phetic Interpretation, &c, 8vo, London, 1849. 

Manchester, The Duke of, The Finished Mystery, &c, 
8vo, London, 1847; also other works. A learned and able 
investigator. 

Manford, , Apology for Millenarianism ; small 8vo, 

1809, 1843. 

Marsh, Dr. W., A few plain thoughts on Prophecy, &c, 
8vo, Colchester, 3d ed., 1843. 

Mather, Increase, A Discourse concerning faith and fer- 
vency in prayer, and the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ 
on earth, now approaching, 12mo, Boston, 1710. 

Maton, Robert, Israel's Redemption, or the prophetical 
history of our Savior's kingdom on earth, &c, 12mo, Lon- 
don, 1642. This work was assailed by Alexander Petrie, 
which elicited from the author another work of much 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 421 

greater magnitude, entitled, Israel's Redemption Redeemed, 
or the Jews' general and miraculous conversion to the faith 
of the gospel and return to their own land, and our Savior's 
personal reign on earth, clearly proved out of many plain 
prophecies of the Old and New Testaments ; and the chief 
arguments that, can be alleged against those truths fully 
answered ; of purpose to satisfy all gainsayers, and in par- 
ticular Mr. Alexander Petrie; in two parts, 4to, London, 
1646. An able and acute writer. 

Maywahlen, Dr. V. U., Intermediate State, or Christ 
among the dead, the twofold Resurrection, and the twofold 
coming of Christ ; German; also in English; 12mo. 

McCaul, Dr. A., The Old Paths, &c, 8vo, London, 1837. 
The Conversion and Restoration of the Jews, two sermons, 
8vo, London, 1837. Plain Sermons on subjects practical 
and prophetic, 12mo, London, 1840. TJie Messiahship of 
Jesus, &c, 8vo, London, 1852. 

McNeile, Rev. Hugh, The Times of the Gentiles, London, 
1828; Prophecies relating to the Jewish Nation, 12mo, 
London, 1840; Se7'mons on the Second Advent of the Lord, 
12mo, London, 1842. •* Eloquent and pious; one of Eng- 
land's most gifted divines." 

Mejanel, Pierre, Miniature Sketch of the Millennium, &c, 
24mo, Edinb., 1831. 

Millennial Church ; or, Christ's Personal Reign upon 
Earth, &c, by Clericus Dorcestriensis, 12mo, London. 
Also, by the same, Christ's Coming to Judgment, 12nio, 
London, 1834. 

Millennium, A Tenet of; or, The First Resurrection to 
the Reign of Christ upon the Earth, by E. L., 8vo, Lond. 
1813. 

Miller, William, Evidence from Scripture and History of 
the Second Coming of Christ, &c. ; a course of Lectures, 
small 12mo, Boston, 1842. 



422 THE LAST TIMES. 

*Molyneux, C, TJie World to Come, 8vo, 1853. Israel's 

Future, crown 8vo, 6th ed., 1860. 
Multum in Parvo; or Jubilee of Jubilees, &c, 8vo, 1732. 

Newton, Wm., Lectures on the First Two Visions of the Book 

of Daniel, Phila., 1859. 
Noel, Hon. & Rev. Gr. T., An Inquiry into the Prospects of 

the Church of Christ, in connection with the Second Advent; 

8vo, London, 1828. 
Nolan, Dr. F., The Chronological Prophecies, &c, Warbur 

tonian Lectures, 8vo, London, 1837. 

Ogilvy, G-. Esq., Popular Objections to the Premillennial Ad- 
vent considered, 8vo. Also, other works. 

Pagani, John Baptist, The End of the World; or, The 
Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 18mo, 
London, 1855. A valuable testimony, by a Roman Catholio 
priest. 

Paradise Regained; or, Tlie Scripture Account of the 
Glorious Millennium, &c, printed for J. Buckland, 1772. 

Penn, Granville (grandson of the founder of Pennsyl- 
vania), A Christian survey of all the primary events and 
periods of the world from the commencement of History to 
the conclusion of Prophecy ; small 8 vo, Lond., 1812; also, 
The Prophecy of Ezehiel concerning Gog, small 8vo, 
Lond., 1814. 

Perry, W., Glory of Christ's Visible Kingdom, 12mo, 1721. 
"Plain and practical." 

Peterson, Dr. Jno. Wm., A Scriptural exposition and de- 
monstration of the Millennial Reign and the First Resur- 
rection to the Kingdom connected therewith ; (German) 4to, 
Franckf., 1692. Also, Warheit des herrlichen Reiches Jesu 
Christi, 1693; and many other publications. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 423 

Pirie, Rev. Alex., An Inquiry into the Prophecies relating 
to the conversion and restoration of the Jews; also Ser- 
mons and Lectures on prophetic topics; Works, 6 vols. 
12nio, Edinb., 1805. An acute writer. 

Poiret, Pierre, TJie Divine (Economy; or an universal 
system of the works and purposes of Grod towards men de- 
monstrated ; written originally in French, 6 vols. 8vo ; Lon- 
don, 1713. 

Pre-Millennialism, Proofs of, &c, with an Introduction by 
Dr. R. Newton, Philadelphia, 1862. A clear and con- 
vincing little book. 

Purdon, Rev. A. R., Last Vials; 16 small annual volumes, 
published in monthly and semi-monthly tracts since 1846, 
London. Still continued. 

Purves, James, Observations on the Visions of the Apostle 
John, compared with other sacred Scriptures; 2 vols. 
Edinb., 1793. 

*Pym, Wm. W., Thoughts on Millenarianism, 12mo, Lond., 
1829; corrected and enlarged, 1831. "Contains, in a small 
compass, much valuable argument and extracts from the 
Fathers." Also, Restitution of all things, 12mo. 

Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, 1849-1855, London, 
7 vols. 8vo. Among the contributors are Elliott, Keith, 
Kelly, Forster, Hengstenberg, Cumming, &c. 

*Ramsey, Dr. Wm., Messiah's Reign, or the Future Bless- 
edness of the Church and of the World ; small 8vo, Phila- 
delphia, 1857. An able, calm, and exegetical treatment 
of the subject. Also, Second Coming of Christ, &c. 

Ranew, Nath., Account concerning the Saints' Glory after 
the Resurrection, &c, 4to, Lond., 1670. 

Read, Hollis, The Coming Crisis of the World; or the 



424 THE LAST TIMES. 

Great Battle and the Golden Age, &c, with an Introduc- 
tion by Dr. S. H. Tyng, Columbus, 1861, 12mo. 

Reign of Christ on Earth noways repugnant to the Spirit- 
uality of his Kingdom, 4to, Lond., 1677. 

Review or Scripture, in testimony of the truth of the 
Second Advent, the First Resurrection, and the Millen- 
nium, with an Appendix on the Restoration of the Jews. 
By a Layman, 8vo, 1819. 

Roach, R., The Great Crisis, &c, 8vo, London, 1825; also, 
The Imperial Standard of Messiah Triumphant, &c, 8vo, 
Lond., 1727. 

Rudd, Sayer, M.D., An Essay towards a new explication 
of the doctrine of the Resurrection, Millennium, and Judg- 
ment; with three dissertations on 2 Peter 10-13; Rom. 
viii. 19-23; Rev. xxi. 24; 8vo, Lond., 1734. Also, other 
works 

Savilue, B. W., First and Second Advent, or the Past and 
the Future, &c, 8vo, 1858. 

Schaeffer, Jno. Dav., The Everlasting Gospel, or the doc- 
trine of the Millennium and Reign of Christ and his Saints, 
&c, 8vo, 1725; also in Latin, Doctrina de Regno Millen- 
nario Christi. 

Schultze, Gottlob, Drei Lebensfragen ; Dresden, 1860. A 
well-arranged little book, containing much useful exegeti- 
cal and historical matter. 

Scott, James, A Catechism upon the Prophetical System of 
Scripture, &c, 12mo, Edinburgh, 1847. 

Second Coming of the Lord, The, the true Hope of Be- 
lievers and only Triumph of the Church, &c, Dublin, 
1833. 

Seiss, J. A., The Threatening Ruin, &c, 12mo, Phila., 1861. 

Sergent, Fred., Esqr., An Essay on the personal and pre' 
millennial Advent of the Messiah', Lond., 1833, small 8vo 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 425 

Seven, An Essay on this number, Lond., 8vo, 1754. 

Shadows of the New Creation, by W. S. 

Sherwin, Wm., Ilpodpofj.o<;, the forerunner of Christ's peace- 
able Kingdom upon Earth, Lond., 4to, 1665. Etpyvtxov, 
or a peaceable consideration of Christ's peaceable King- 
dom to come upon the Earth in the 1000 years, &c, Lond., 
4to, 1665; Supplement to the same; also, The Times of 
the Restitution of All Things, Lond., 4to, 1675; also, The 
True News of the Good New World shortly to come, &c, 
Lond., 4to, 1671-2. "A zealous writer on prophecy, a 
hard student, and of an unblamable life." 

Shimeall, Rev. R. C, Our Bible Chronology, Historic and 
Prophetic, critically examined, &c, royal 8vo, N. York, 
1860. Also, Age of the World, &c. 

Silliman, Anna, The World's Jubilee, N. York, 12mo, 1856. 

*SiRR, Dr. J. d'Arcy, The First Resurrection Considered 
in a series of Letters; 12mo, 1834. A strong argument, 
with many useful observations, and written in a good spirit. 
Also other productions. 

Sober Inquiry, or Christ's Reign with his Saints a thousand 
years, modestly asserted from the Scripture; 8vo, 1660. 

Spener, Phil. Jac, A Defence of tlie Rope of Better Times 
to come, &c, (German,) 12mo, Frankf., 1693. 

Spes Fidelitjm, or the Believer's Hope; a dissertation prov- 
ing the thousand years' Reign of Christ; by a presbyter 
of the Church of England; supposed to be Dr. Grabe, or 
Dr. Lee; 8vo, 1774. 

Sterry, Peter, The Clouds in which Christ comes, 4to, 
1643; also, Rise, Race, and Royalty of the Kingdom of God, 
4to, 1683. 

Stewart, James Haldane, Practical View of the Re- 
deemer's Advent, 8vo, 1828. Also, Sermons to strengthen 
Faith, &c, 8vo, London, 1828. 

Stilling, John Herry Jung-, Siegsgeschichte der christ* 

36* 



426 THE LAST TIMES. 

liche Religion, 8vo, Nuremberg, 1798; also, Nachtrag, 
1806; also parts of Der graue Mann, a periodical. 
Strange, Judge Th. L., The Light of Prophecy, 8vo, 1850; 
also, Observations on Mr. Elliott's Horse Apocalypticse. 

Task, The ; or, Scripture Texts connected with the Glorious 
Advent and Millennial Reign; 18mo, London, 1847. 

*TAYLOR, D. T., The Voice of the Church on the Coming and 
Kingdom of the Redeemer ; or a History of the Doctrine 
of the Reign of Christ on Earth; 12mo, Phila., 1856. A 
work containing much useful information. 

Theopolis, or the City of God, New Jerusalem, &c, 8vo, 
Lond., 1672; Philadelphia, 1808. 

Thomas, J., M.D., Elpis Israel: an Exposition of the King- 
dom of Grod, with reference to the end of time and the 
Age to come; 8vo, N. York, 1851. 

Thompson, Jno., M.D., The Judgment in Matt. xxv. con- 
clusive of Messiah's Personal Advent and his Millennial 
Kingdom, 4to. 

Thorpe, Wm., The Destinies of the British Empire^ &c, 
8vo, London, 1831. 

Pillinghast, John, Generation - Work ; or a brief and sea- 
sonable word, offered to the view and consideration of the 
saints and people of God, &c, First Part, small 8vo, Lon- 
don, 1655. 

Generation -Work; the Second Part, wherein is shewed 
what the designs of Grod abroad in the world may in all 
likelihood be, &c, small 8vo, Lond., 1655. 

Generation - Work ; or an Exposition of the Prophecies 
of the Two Witnesses, &c, small 8vo, 1655. 
Knowledge of the Times, &c, small 8vo, 1654. 
Eight Last Sermons, small 8vo, Lond., 1656. "A supe- 
rior writer, both in practical and evangelical sentiment, 
and in prophetical knowledge." 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 427 

Time of the End, A Prophetic Period, &c, small 8vo, Bos- 
ton, 1856, edited by Himes. A collection of matters 
which will well repay perusal. 

Towers, J. L., Illustrations of Prophecy, 2 vols. 8vo, 1796. 

Tyso, Joseph, An Inquiry after Prophetic Truth, relative 
to the Restoration of the Jews and the Millennium, &c, 
with various and beautiful maps and engravings ; 8vo, Lon- 
don, 1831. "The work contains a clear exposition of the 
eleven concluding chapters of Ezekiel, the fourteenth of 
Zechariah, and many other parts of the Old and New 
Testaments generally considered obscure." 

Tyson, Joseph, A Defence of the Personal Reign of Christ, 
12mo, London, 1841. 

Way, Rev. L., Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of 
the Christian Church, 8vo, pp. 115; also a poem, entitled 
Palingenesia. 

Whiston, Wm., A New Theory of the Earth, from its origi- 
nal to the consummation of all things, 8vo, London, 1755; 
also, An Essay on the Revelation of St. John, 4to, Cam- 
bridge, 1706; also, The Accomplishment of Scripture Pro- 
phecies, (Boyle Lecture,) 8vo, Camb.,1708; also, The Lite- 
ral Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies, &c, London, 
1724. A divine of great learning and abilities, but eccen- 
tric, and advocating some very peculiar opinions. 

* White, Hugh, Practical Reflections on the Second Advent f 
12mo, Dublin, 1836; N.York, 1843. 

White, Jerem., Restoration of all Things, 8vo, Lond., 
1779, and 1809. "A loving and wise-hearted man," and 
"a most excellent book." — Hartley. 

Who WELL, T., Epistles to the Christian Church o;i the Eve of 
the Millennium, &c, 2 vols. 8vo, 1830. 

Wilson, John G., Discourses on Prophecy, 8vo, Phila,, 1858 



428 THE LAST TIMES. 

Winchester; Elhanan, Lectures on the Prophecies that re- 
main to he fulfilled, 4 vols. 8vo, Helston, 1813. 

Winthrop, Ed., Lectures on the Second Advent, 12mo, 
1843 ; also, Premium Essay on Prophetic Symbols, 12mo, 
1854; also, Letters on Prophecy, N. York, 1850. 

WlTHERBY, Wm., Esq., A Review of Scripture in testimony 
of the truth of the Second Advent, the First Resurrection, 
and the Millennium', with an Appendix; 8vo, Lond., 
1818. Also, Hints to Commentators, &c, 8vo, Lond., 1821. 

Wood, Leut. Gr. H., The Believer's Guide to the Study of 
Unfulfilled Prophecy ; containing the Scripture testimony 
respecting the Gentile apostasy, the Second Advent of 
Christ, his personal reign on the earth with all his saints, 
the restoration of the Jews, &c, with the testimony of the 
Fathers and Reformers; Lond., 1831, 8vo. 

Wood, Walter, The Last Things, London, 1852, 8vo. 

Woodward, H. W., Essays on the Millennium. 

ZlPPLE, J. Gr., The World's Crisis, and the Restitution of all 
Tilings, 12mo, London, 1854. A Moravian writer. 

4. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS WHICH INCIDENTALLY SET FORTH MILLE- 
NARIAN DOCTRINES. 

Ambrose, Isaac, Sermon on Doomsday; Works, p. 408. 

Benson, Dr. Gr., Notes on Ps. xcvi. 10-13, and xcviii. 4-9. 
Bonar, H., The Eternal Day, 18mo, London, 1844. Also, 

Man — Sis Religion and his World, 18 mo, London, 1851. 

Also, Hymns of Faith and Hope, 2 vols. 12mo, New York, 

1862. 
Baumgarten, Mich., History of the Apostolic Church. 
Bliss, Sylvester, Memoirs ofWm. Miller, Bost., 12mo,1853. 
Brown, Rev. Ch., Abstract of the New Testament, 1753, 

pp. 136, 163. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 429 

Burnet, Thomas, Sacred TJieory of the Earth; Books III. 

and IV., especially the latter. Burnet was a writer of great 

literary excellence, but imaginative and erroneous in his 

philosophical theories. 
Burk, Jno. C. F., Memoir of the Life and Writings of John 

Albert Bengel, translated into English by Walker, 8vo, 

London, 1837. 

Chalmers, Dr. Thomas, On the Neio Heavens and the New 
Earth, Sermon on 2 Pet. iii. 13; Works, Phila., 1833, p 
411. Also, Sabbath Scripture Readings. 

Crosby, Thomas, History of English Baptists, vol. 2, Ap- 
pendix 85. 

Charnock, Dr. Stephen, Discourses on the Existence and 
Attributes of God, — Discourse VI., On the Immutability of 
God, p. 195. 

Cowper, Wm., Task, Book VI. 

Clarke, Richard, The Gospel of the Daily Service of the 
Law, preached to Jeio and Gentile, &c, 8vo, London, 1767 

Clayton, Wm., Rural Discourses, 2 vols., London, 1814. 

Cranmer, Bishop, Catechism of Edward VI., 1553, on the 
words "Thy Kingdom come." 

Delitzch, Dr. F., Biblisch-Prophetische Theologie. 
Dorner, Lehre von d. Person Christi, i. p. 240, seqq., note. 

Elizabeth, Charlotte, Judah's Lion, London, 8vo. 

Fleming, Robert, Jr., Rise and Fall of the Papacy ; also, 

Christology, vol. iii, 8vo, 1708. 
Fletcher, Rev. John, Works, vol. x. ; especially his Letter 

on the Prophecies, dated 1775. 

Gilfillan, Gr., Alpha and Omega, vol. ii., chaps. 20, 21, 
pp. 331-370; also, Bards of the Bible, pp. 345-351. 



4:30 THE LAST TIMES. 

Gill, Dr. John, Complete Body of Divinity ; Prophetical 

Sermons; and Commentary. 
Gaussen, M., Daniel le Prophete, 3 vols. 2d edition, 1850. 

An able writer, according very nearly with Elliott. Also, 

Lectures on Popery. 
Glass, John, Works, Edinburgh, 1761, vol. 2, pp. 425-430 

Hurd, Dr. Richard, Introduction to the Study of the Pro- 
phecies, (Warburton Lectures,) vi., pp. 129-163. 

Heber, Bishop R., Poetical Works, small 8vo, London, 1842, 
especially his Hymns. 

Harlan, General J., A Memoir on India and Afghanis- 
tan, &c, 12nio, Philadelphia, London, and Paris, 1842. 

Hort, Robert, Posthumous Works, 1805. 

Johnson, Rev. Samuel, Thirty-six Select Discourses, &c, 
2 vols. 8vo, London, 1740. Particularly the Preface. 

Keble, Jno., TJie Christian Year, New York, 1850. For 

Advent Season, pp. 17-37. 
Kling, Dr., Dean of Marbach, Article on Eschatology in 

Herzog's Encyclopedia. 

Lutherus Redivivus, oder des fuhrnehmsten Lehrers der 
Augsb. Confession, &c, 4to, 1697, pp. 386, 389. 

Lechler, , Das Apost. und Nachapost. Zeitalter, p. 82. 

Lord, Eleaz., The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets, 12mo, 
New York, 1853. 

Milton, John, Paradise Lost, III. 333-338; XII. 531- 
555. Prose Works, Conclusion of Essay on Reformation 
in England. 

Mather, Dr. Cotton, The Student and Preacher; or Direc- 
tions for a Candidate for the Ministry. Also, his Life 
pp. 141-144. 



CLASSIFIED REFERENCES TO RECENT WRITERS. 431 

Newton, Bishop Thomas, Dissertations on the Prophecies, 
Diss. 22, 23, 24, 25, especially his Analysis of Rev. xx. 

NlSSEN, J., Unterredungen iibcr den Kleinen Catechisnvas 
Luthers; Kiel, 1859, pp. 524-533. 

Oetinger, Fried. Christoph, Predigten, 5 vols. 8vo, Stutt- 
gart, 1858; also Biblisches Worterbuch. 
Osiander, Prof, at Maulbronn, Lehrbuch, sec. 66,67,76-78. 

Pope, Alexander, The Messiah. See his Works. 

Piers, Henry, Tliree Sermons on Ephesians ii. 12 ; 12mo, 

London, 1748. 
Presbyterian Review, The, Organ of the Scotch Church, 

established some twenty-five or thirty years ago. 

Reichel, Carl Rudolph, Predigten iiber die Sonn- und 
Festtags-Episteln, Leipzig, 4to, 1787. Also, Evangelisches 
Denk-Sprilche, &c, Leipzig, 4to, 1783. 

Reinhard, Dr. Fr. Volkmar, Dogmatik, sec. 189, where 
he teaches the twofold nature of the Resurrection; also in 
sec. 191, on the changes to be wrought in the world. 

Sherwood, Mrs., The Latter Days. See her Works, vol. ii. 
pp. 289-455, New York ed. 

Sharpe, Dr. Gregory, Defence of Christianity, 8vo, Lon- 
don, 1775, p. 140. 

Spurgeon, C. H., Sermons, sixth series, and elsewhere. 

Spalding, Joshua, Lectures, pp. 45, 51, 214, etc. 

Schlegel, Frederick von, Lectures on the Philosophy of 
History, delivered in 1828, at Vienna; translated into 
English by Robertson, small 8vo, London, 1846. 

Spener, Dr. P. J., Auffrichtige Ubereinstimmung mit der 
Augsb. Confession, &c, 4to, 1695, pp. 287-290. 

Schoner, Jno. G-., Predigten iiber die Evangelien, 8vo, 
Nurnberg, 1804. 



432 THE LAST TIMES. 

JSpangenberg, Bishop Aug. G-ot., Exposition of Christian 
Doctrine, as taught in the Church of the Unitas Fratrum, 
London, 8vo, 1784, the last chapter. Also, Idea Fidei. 

Toplady, Augustus M., Speech at the Queen's Arms, &c; 
also, Meditation for a New Tear's Day ; Works, London, 
1861, pp. 428, 448. 

Tyng, Dr. Stephen H., Articles on The Coming Kingdom ; 
also, Lectures on the Five Universal Monarchies of the 
Earth, and elsewhere. 

Thomasius, at Nuremberg, Manual of Catechetical Instruc- 
tion, sec. 33, 38. 

Tupper, Martin F., sundry Poems, especially "The Last 
Timer 

Watts, Dr. Isaac, many of his Hymns and Psalms. 

Wesley, John, Works, 7 vols. 8vo, New York ed., vol. v. 
pp. 726, 727; also vol. vi. p. 743, where he fully endorses 
Mr. Hartley's book, "Paradise Restored: a Testimony to 
the Doctrine of the Blessed, Millennium." Also, his Notes 
on the New Testament. 

Wesley, Charles, Hymns, 1762; for example, the one be- 



gin 



nine:, "I call the world's Redeemer mine." 



■&> 



Wogan, Wm., Esq., Essay on the proper Lessons appointed 
by the Liturgy of the Church of England, 2 vols. 8vo, 
Derby, 1841; especially on 27th Sunday after Trinity. 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abomination of desolation, 22. 

Advent, the, when to occur, 38, 39, 261- 
282; signs of, 292-299, 371; is near at 
hand, 301-303; desirableness of, 304- 
308; the common expectation of the 
Church, 15; to be expected from con- 
siderations of reason, 31 ; great interest 
of, 32; first and second, 37; is premil- 
lennial. 40-60, 104, 105 ; the setting up 
of the kingdom connected with, 126- 
130 ; practical value of the doctrine of, 
256, 257; how regarded by the primi- 
tive Church, 257, 258, 287 ; our duty in 
view of, 283, 370 ; too much skepticism 
and coldness with regard to, 15, 287 ; to 
have two stages, 350, 351 ; references to 
the teachings of Christ and his apostles 
on, 365-367 ; Old Testament on, 367 ; 
references on the objects and results of, 
368-370 ; the manner of, 372; uses made 
of. in the Scriptures, 375. 

Age of the world, 268, 269. 

auov, meaning of, 73. 

Alford, Dean, 325, 340, 400. 

Allegorical method, Origen's, 248, 249. 

Anabaptists, their fanaticism, 235, 236, 329. 

Analogy, argument from, on the perpe- 
tuity of the earth, 71, 72. 

Antichrist, the, 47, 341 ; is to be a French 
emperor, 178 ; to be destroyed by Christ 
in person, 47-52 ; probably Louis Napo- 
leon is to be, 341-349 ; Scripture refer- 
ence to, 378, 379; referred to in Matt, 
xxiv. 15, 22. 

Antichristian powers, when destroyed, 
46-52 ; can be no Millennium while they 
remain, 46, 47 ; shall not exist in the 
millennial world, 222. 

Antiquity, importance of, 231, 232. 

Apocryphal writings on the Millennium, 



Apollinarius, 394. 

Apostasy of last times, 42, 45, 57, 261, 292, 

371. 
Arnold. Dr., 301, 320. 
Auberlen, Dr., 324, 365, 405. 
Augsburg Confessors. 57, 326; do they 

condemn Chiliasm ? 327-335. 
Augustine, 247, 396. 



Babylon, Great, 174; her doom, 175-177 
279, 280. 

Bacon on the nature of prophecy, 17, 18. 

Baird, Dr., 318. 

Barnabas, 237, 238, 383. 

Baronius, 273. 

Baxter, 306. 

Beecher, Charles, 32. 

Benevolent Societies, the great, have 
not accomplished what was claimed for 
them, 300. 

Bengel. Dr., 333, 337, 400, 404. 

Beug, 127. 

Bible, the, only authority in things of 
faith, 10, 11, 232; how some read it, 26; 
how it is to be interpreted, 116; will 
become a new book in the light of ful- 
filled prophecy, 202; Luther's method 
of interpreting, 253; much of it ig- 
nored by those who refuse to study 
prophecy, 12 ; chronology of, 356-362. 

Bible, the Burlenburg, 400. 

Bickersteth, 303, 409. 

Blessedness of the millennial world, 212- 
229. 

Body, the, resurrection of, not impossible 
with God, 88 ; believed in by the Jews, 
90 ; identity preserved in, 91, 92 ; in the 
glorified state, 218. 

Bogie, Dr., 319. 

Bonar, H., hymns by, 230, 364, 401, 411, 
428. 

Brooks, 117, 250, 303, 399, 411. 

Browne, Archd., 316. 

Buckholdt, John, 235. 

Burnet, Dr. T., 65, 429. 

Burton, 245. 

Bush, 100, 142, 256, 267, 270, 319, 396. 

c. 

Calmet, 98. 
Calvin, 80. 
Carlyle, 297. 

Catholicism, Roman, 292, 297. 
Celano, de, hymn by, 159. 
Cerinthus, errors imputed to him, 235; 
his injury to millenarian doctrine, 251. 
Chabbo, 99. 



37 



433 



i34 



INDEX. 



Chalmers, Dr. T., 286, 289, 429. 

Charnock, on the restoration of all things, 
80, 429. 

Cheever, Dr. G. B., 318. 

Chillingworth, 244, 398. 

Chinese Philosophers, 65. 

Choate, Kufus, 320. 

Christ, spiritual or providential coming 
of, 37, 59; claims of, for the gospel, 110 ; 
to reign as a great prince upon earth, 
113-131, 204, 212 ; his reign eternal, 144; 
the bliss of seeing, 215-217. 

Christ, the return of, certain, 15, 30, 31, 
37 ; importance of, 32 ; few properly in- 
fluenced by it, 15, 287; great original 
prophecy on, 16; hymn on, 136; will be 
as a thief, 152 ; importance of being pre- 
pared for it, 156; bliss of seeing him, 
215-217 ; when it shall occur, how far 
made known, 259, 260 ; the time of, con- 
sidered relatively, 261 ; a period of apos- 
tasy and revolutionary troubles, 261, 
262, 371, 373 ; before the Jews are en- 
tirely restored, 263; while papacy and 
antichrist continue, 264, 373; at a time 
of alarm on the subject, 265, 371, 373; 
but while the multitudes scoff and dis- 
believe, 265, 373 ; our duty with refer- 
ence to, 172, 283, 370 ; is near at hand, 
282, 291, 302, 303; the desirableness of, 
131-133, 304-308 ; want of faith in, 286, 
287 ; how to affect his enemies, 368. 

Christendom, survey of, 292, 293. 

Christian, a, no sorrowful thing to be, 
111 ; is safe, 181, 309 ; is not done with 
this world when he dies, 221. 

Christianity not to triumph universally 
till Christ comes, 53-56; Luther and 
Melancthon on the subject, 56-58 ; other 
testimonies, 57, 58 ; a spiritual religion, 
119, 120. 

Christocract, 113. 

Christs, false, 19, 20, 23. 

Chronology, different systems of, 269 ; of 
the Bible, 356-362. 

Churches, the, to be thoroughly revolu- 
tionized, 170-172; how to regulate our 
present relations to, 172. 

Churches, the nationalized, abomina- 
tions of, 174, 175 ; the doom of, 176, 177 ; 
decay of, 280. 

Church, Primitive, the, how regarded 
the advent of Christ, 257, 258, 287; 
opinion of, on the Millennium, 383-398 : 
Apocryphal writings of, 388-392; au- 
thorities on the miUenarianism of, 398. 

Church, the, afflicted till Christ comes, 40, 
41, 44.; Melancthon on this point, 56, 
255 ; Henry and Whitefield on the same, 
58 ; difference between its spirit now and 
in primitive times, 257 ; removal of, when 
Christ comes, 154, 162, 349-353. 

City, the heavenly, 207, 219, 311. 

Clarke, Dr. A., 323. 

Clement, 238, 384. 

Clement op Alexandria, 242, 387. 



Commentators, on Matt, xxiv., 25-27 ; poeta 

and painters as, 137. 
Commodian, 393. 
Confessions, or creeds, referred to, 15, 57, 

58, 287, 326. 
Conflagration, the, 75-79. 
CoNSTANTiNE,elevation oftheClmrch under 

him supposed to begin the Millennium, 

250 ; his legalization of the Church the 

inlet of great evils, 94. 
Consummation, the, changes to be effected 

in, 82, 83; joy of, 228, 307, 308. 
Coronation of Christ as king of the 

world, 112. 
Corrodi, his work on Chiliasm, 398. 
Cox, 303, 306, 412. 
Coxe, hymn by, 182. 

Creation, the, longing for the consum- 
mation, 63, 79, 85. 
Crusius, 333. 
Cry, the midnight, beginning to go forth, 

296. 
Cumming, John, 72, 303, 305, 401, 405, 412. 
Cunninghame, 303, 412. 
Curse, the, to be repealed, 79-81, 226- 

228. 
Cyprian, 242, 393. 



Dana, 76. 

Darkness the herald of day, 299, 300. 

Daubuz, 267. 

David, tabernacle of, to be rebuilt, 192. 

Day, often taken for a long period of time, 
141, 142. 

Days, taken for years, 270. 

Dead, the, resurrection of, 88-92; comfort 
with reference to, 105-108; the judg- 
ment of, 161 ; " the rest of," Rev. xx. ; 
what is meant by, 95-98. 

Death, repulsiveness of, 105 ; to what it is 
reduced under Christ, 106; triumphs 
over, in the resurrection, 107, 108. 

Democracy, the spirit of the times, would 
level every thing, 297. 

Demonism, 281. 

Dickson, hymn by, 311. 

Dispensations, overlap. 150. 

Doane, Bishop, hymn by, 35. 

Dodwell, 256. 

DoRNER, Dr., 324, 429. 

Duff, Dr., 316. 

Duffield, Dr., 413. 



Eagles, the saints compared to, 24. 

Earth, its perpetuity asserted in Scrip- 
tures, 68-70; dreams of its destruction, 
67 ; its probable destiny if sin had never 
touched it, 68. 

Elders, the, in Rev. iv. 5, 353. 

Elect, the, 23. 

Elias, tradition of the house of, 255, 267. 

Elliott, Dr., 49, 302, 405, 413. 



INDEX. 



435 



End of the world, the, what is meant by, 
73-75; nearuess of, 282; opinions of 
students of prophecy on the nearness 
of, 302-304; really to be desired, 304- 
307. 

Enoch, Book of, 389. 

eirtyaveLa, meaning of, 48. 

Ernesti, 116. 

Esdras, second book of, 390. 

Euphrates, drying up of, 279, 280. 

Events, general order of, 379-382. 

Expectation of Christ's coming a charac- 
teristic of the early Church, 257, 287. 

F. 

Faber, G. S., 270, 274, 303, 342, 413. 

Faith, great want of, 286 ; shall be feeble 
and scarce when Christ comes, 42. 

Fall, the, consequences of, 62, 63. 

Farmer, Joseph, 147, 337, 414. 

Fathers, the, opinious of, on millenarian 
doctrine, 237-245 ; Luther's respect for, 
334; references to their opinions and 
works, 3S3-398. 

Fires, the, spoken of by Peter, not uni- 
versal, 76-79; Christ shall be revealed 
in, 78. 

First-fruits, 350. 

Flacius, 273. 

Fleming, Robert, 49, 273, 414, 429. 

Flcerke, 332, 414. 

Flood, the, how it came, 155. 

French Revolution, the, 275, 276, 362. 

French, the, Emperor of, to be the per- 
sonal antichrist, 178. 



yrj, nowhere said to have an end, 73, 74 ; 

is to survive the baptism of fire, 75. 
yevea, meaning of, 28, 323. 
Gentiles, the, times of, 187. 
Gibbon, Ed., 243, 256. 

GlESELER, 245. 

Gozthe. his view of nature's ailhjgs, 63. 

Goodwin, Dr. T., 148, 4Q5. 

Gospel, the, preaching of, to all nations, 
20, 371 ; our only hope, 258 ; its glorious 
promises, 109. 

Government, good, the greatest desidera- 
tum, 131, 134 ; all present forms of, to be 
modified or destroyed, 170-172. 

Greek Church, 293. 

Greswell, Dr., 337, 388, 391, 392, 399, 400. 

H. 

IlABERSEON, 303. 

Hall, Thomas, his argument that the Mil- 
lennium cannot precede the judgment, 
57. 58. 

Hamilton, Dr., 197. 202. 

Hartley, Th., 337, &38, 395, 415, 432. 

Hi-ber, Bishop, 290, 430. 

Hxnostenberg, Dr., 355. 



Henry, Matthew, on the mixed condition 
of the world till Christ comes, 58. 

Hermas, 384. 

Hiller, P. F., 334. 

Hindostanee opinions on the world's fu- 
ture, 65. 

Hippolytus, 392. 

History continually repeating itself, 17 ; 
one of the storehouses of wisdom, 231. 

Hitchcock, Dr., 318. 

Hody, 101. 

Homes, N., 416. 

Hooker, 116. 

Horn, the Little, 271. 

Hort, 65, 417, 430. 

Hymns, " Even so come, Lord Jesus," 35 ; 
"Another Admonition," 61; "Waiting 
for that day," 87; "Wird das nicht 
Freude seyn," 111 ; " Maranatha," 136 ; 
"Dies Ira;," 159; "Arouse for Duty," 
182 ; " The Day is Coming," 208 ; " Yet 
a Little While," 230; "He Left not 
Himself without Witness," 258 ; " Wake, 
Awake," 284; "The New Jerusalem," 
311 ; " The Happy Dawn," 364. 

I. 

Ignatius, 384. 

Interpretation, laws of, 116. 

Iren^us, 240, 241, 252, 336, 387. 

Irving, 305, 417. 

Israel, exemptions of, in the judgment 
times, 167 ; all to be saved, 187, 188, 189 ; 
kingdom to be restored to, 190, 191 ; to 
return to Palestine, 193-196 ; to be tho- 
roughly converted and sanctified, 202, 
203 ; exaltation of, in the Millennium, 
223, 224. 

J. 

Jeremiah xxv., 163, 164. 

Jerome, 247, 396. 

Jerusalem, 197, 199 ; is to be the metropo- 
lis of the world, 204-206, 374; destruc- 
tion of, 21 ; a type of the end, 17, 18. 

Jerusalem, the heavenly, 207, 311-315. 

Jews, the, to remain a distinct people till 
Christ comes, 28, 29. 323 ; their concep- 
tions of the Messiah, 117, 118; con- 
temned by many, 168; are the living 
symbols of coming evil. 168, 169 ; shaU 
be concerned in the last great wars, 178 ; 
are to be converted, 183 ; are to be re- 
stored to Palestine, 184; objections an- 
swered, 184-186; referred to in the New 
Testament, 186-192; proofs from the 
Old Testament, 192-195 ; historical facts 
bearing on the question, 196-198 ; how 
the return will begin, 199 ; will be ef- 
fected only in the judgment period, 201 ; 
accompaniments and results of their 
return, 202-207; future glory of, 223; 
God's covenant with them, 188, 189 ; re- 
storation of the kingdom to, 190, 191; 
their restoration not merely spiritual, 



436 



INDEX. 



i93, 194; survey of their history and 
condition, 196; their metropolis, 197, 
204-206 ; lines on their restoration, 208 ; 
mistaken views of, on Christ's kingdom, 
118-120, 330; their estimate of our 
times, 319; how affected by Christ's 
coming, 369 ; destiny of, 376, 378. 

John xviii. 36 often misquoted, 121 ; true 
meaning of, 338-340. 

Johnston, 266. 

Jonathan, the Paraphrast, 99. 

Judge, scriptural conception of a, 139, 140. 

Judgment, administrations of, with re- 
spect to the dead, 143, 161 ; as respects 
the living, 162-167 ; how they will be- 
gin to be felt, 169 ; general results of, in 
the world, 170-172 ; more particular ef- 
fects, 173-179; how these things should 
impress us, 178, 181. 

Judgment, day of, not a day of twenty- 
four hours, 141 ; stretches through the 
thousand years, 144-148 ; will be intro- 
duced diiferently from what is generally 
supposed, 149-156 ; will have its morn- 
ing and its evening, 144, 145, 160 ; ad- 
monitions in view of, 157, 158. 

Judgment, the, much misunderstood, 137 ; 
certainty of, 138 ; not to be thought of 
as an assize, 139; is the administration 
of the Divine government, 141 ; is pro- 
gressive, 142, 143; connects with the 
personal reign of Christ, 144-148; how 
it will begin, 149-151, 155 ; hymn on, 159. 

Justinian, 272. 

Justin Martyr, 239, 336, 386. 

K. 

Karens, their tradition, 65. 

Keble, hymn by, 61, 430. 

Keith, Dr., 270. 

Kimchi, Rabbi, 99, 401. 

Kingdom, the Messiah's, 112; how pre- 
dicted in the Old Testament, 113-116; 
the ideas entertained of it by the Jews, 
117, 118; how spoken of in the New 
Testament, 119-125 ; connected with the 
second advent, 126-130 ; is not yet mani- 
fested, 132-134; is to be on earth, 120, 
121, 124-131, 212, 339, 340; is to be 
eternal, 144 ; connects with the throne 
of David, 114H16; is to be a literal 
kingdom, 122-125, 127, 128, 131 ; is not 
from this world, 130, 339, 340 ; coexists 
with the world to come, 210 ; the glory 
of, 133, 135, 226-228, 290; how spoken 
of by Luther, 254; the spirituality of, 
119, 335-338. 

King, Ed., 324, 340, 418. 

Kings and Priests of the world to come, 
218-221. 

Kinney, 76. 

Knapp, 117. 

Knox, John, on the world's reform before 
Christ comes, 56. 

KOffuos, meaning of, 73, 74. 



Kossuth, Louis, 320. 
Krummacher, 302, 340. 

1. 

Lactantius, 244, 394. 

Lambert, 419. 

Law governing the Divine operations, 71, 
72. 

Lord, David N., 77, 96, 198, 275, 405, 420". 

Luther, his conception of the gathering 
of the eagles to the body, 24; his opinion 
on the question of the world's conver- 
sion before Christ comes, 56 ; on the re- 
storation, 80, 354; his method of inter- 
preting Scripture, 253; denied that a 
Millennium of righteousness would come 
before Christ comes, 253 ; how he spoke 
of the kingdom, 254; believed that the 
end would come in six thousand years 
from Adam, 255, 355 ; anticipated the time 
as near, 255 ; held that the time was not 
beyond human knowledge, 260; refers 
to a.d. 606 as a notable commencing 
epoch, 273 ; thought the end would cer- 
tainly come in about three hundred 
years, 274, 316 ; on the desirableness of 
the end, 305 ; on the meaning of the 17th 
Article of the Augsburg Confession, 330, 
331 ; respect for the fathers, 334 ; on the 
Millennium, 354-356. 

Lynch, Lieut., 200. 

M. 

Macaulay, 317. 

Macduff, hymn by, 136. 

Magdeburg Centuriators, 270. 

Mahometanism, 153, 279. 

Man of Sin, his duration and end, 47-49. 

Martyrs, their resurrection at the com- 
mencement of the Millennium, literal, 
95, 96, 97. 

Maton, 145, 420. 

Matter not essentially corrupt, 72. 

Matthew xxiv. 16, true key to the mean- 
ing of, 17 ; an axiom for its interpreta- 
tion, 25 ; what it teaches, 30. 

Mede, 66, 142, 14S, 270, 323, 337, 395, 404. 

Melancthon, 49; his opinion on the 
Church's prospects in this dispensation, 
56, 255 ; on the 17 th Article of Augsburg 
Confession, 331, 332. 

Melito, 336, 386. 

Messiah, the, prophecies concerning, 113 
-116, 122, 129. 

Methodius, 393. 

Millenarians, a summary of their doc- 
trines, 233, 234 ; not Millerites, 236 ; the 
fathers were, 237-246; how their doc- 
trines came into disrepute, 246-252, 397 ; 
popery the great enemy of, 246, 250, 
251, 290; classified references to the 
writings of, 400-432. 

Millennium, what it means, 38 ; common 
views of, criticized, 39; not to be till 



INDEX. 



437 



Christ comes, 40-60, 104; Scriptures 
promise no, before the advent, 40; no 
place for, in the great prophetic dis- 
course of Christ before his advent, 44, 
45; no acknowledged creed places be- 
fore the advent, 58; Whitbiau theory 
on, 94; Barnabas on, 237, 238; Papias 
and Justin Martyr on, 239 ; Irenaeus on, 
240; Tertullian on, 241; Cyprian on, 
242; Lactantius on, 244; Augsburg and 
Helvetic Confessions on, 326. 

Miller, William, his views, 236, 421. 

Milton, 49, 430; on the Church's pros- 
pects till Christ comes, 57 ; on the signs 
of the advent, 292 ; prayer of, for Christ's 
coming, 306. 

Mosheim, 235. 240, 245, 248, 273, 398. 

Munscher, 245, 898. 

N. 

Napoleon I., poem on return of his re- 
mains to France. 208; affliction caused 
by him, 277, 363; seventh head of the 
Roman power, 341, 342. 

Napoleow III., question of his being the 
antichrist presented, 341; his power, 
342, 343; peculiarities of his name, 344; 
relation to the Church power, 345 ; his 
character, 345-347 ; his rise from ob- 
scurity, 347, 348 ; his resources, 348. 

Nations, distress of, 169, 170, 262, 294, 371. 

Nature, how reduced and afflicted by sin, 
62, 63; beauties of, still remaining, 72, 
73 ; to be renewed, 81-85 ; illustrations 
from, on the resurrection, 89, 90 ; longeth 
for the consummation, 63. 79, 85; shall 
give forebodings of the time of the end, 
371. 

Neander, 117. 

Nebuchadnezzar, dream of, 262. 

Nepos, 394. 

Newspapers, secular, 293. 

Newton, Bishop, 245, 256, 270, 397, 431. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, 367, 403. 

Nice, Council of, 253, 272, 395. 

Nikolai, hymn by, 284. 

Noah, moral aspect of his times, 45, 155; 
God's covenant to, 74. 



(Etinger, F. C, 333, 431. 

oi/covju-ej/rj, 210, 211. 

Old Testament of equal authority with 
the New, 186. 

Origen, 65, 243, 247 ; his system of spirit- 
ualizing described, 248, 249, 290. 

P. 

Palestine, 198. 199. 204, 205. 
Papacy, the, its commencement and du- 
ration, 271-274. 
Papias, 239, 385. 
Paradise to be restored, 80. 



irapova-ia, meaning of, 48. 

Peel, Sir Robert, 301. 

Philo, 65. 

Phocas, 272, 273. 

Plato, 64. 

Plutarch, 64, 267. 

Poets, their foolish dreams, 67 ; very pool 

theologians, 137. 
Polycarp, 3S5. 
Pounds, parable of, 352. 
Preparation, importance of. 33, 34, 156. 
Prophecy, prejudices against the study 

of, 11 ; a somewhat difficult subject, 13 ; 

is for our enlightenment, 36 ; our duty 

to study it, 12, 13 ; a delightful subject, 

14 ; of no private interpretation, 77, 78 ; 

nature of, 18. 
Protestantism, 293 ; hopes concerning, not 

fulfilled, 300, 297. 
Providence, all things in the hands of, 180. 
(/ruvij, meaning of, 95. 
Pym, 302, 423. 

R. 

Read, Hollis, 318. 

Reform, the watchword of our times, 296 
-298. 

Reign of Christ and his Saints, 113, 114, 
125, 130, 135, 144, 204, 218-220, 374. 

Renovation of the World, by whom ex- 
pected, 64,65; to be desired, 72; Luther, 
and Calvin, and Charnock on, 80 ; Scrip- 
ture statements concerning, 80-84; 
hymn on, 86. 

Resurrection, the, not impossible, 88; 
shadowed in nature, 89; was believed 
in by the Jews, 90; has actually oc- 
curred in certain cases, 90, 91 ; identity 
preserved in, 91, 92 ; twofold character 
of, 98-104; that of the saints eclectic 
and invisible, 103, 154. 

Resurrection, the first, not figurative, 
but literal, 93-98 ; an ancient belief, 98, 
99 ; Scripture reasons for this view, 102 
-104; joyfulness of, 106-111; will be in- 
visible, 154; a peculiar blessing, 102. 

Revelation xx. 4t-6, literal interpretation 
of, maintained, 93-98. 

Revolutions, 1848 the year of, 278; to 
connect with Christ's second coming, 
32, 261, 262, 294, 371. 

Rice, Dr. N. L., 317. 

Roos, M. F., 333, 334, 337, 406. 

Russell, Bishop, 267, 391. 

Rutherford, 306. 



Saints, the, compared to eagles, 24 ; to be 
raised and translated when Christ 
comes, 106, 108, 154, 161, 162; are to 
live a glorified angelic life. 218; are to 
have high official honors, 218 ; partake 
with Christ in his dominion, 219, 374; 
shall have to do with those who shall 



37* 



438 



INDEX. 



continue to live in the flesh, 220 ; -will 
not bo usually visible to those in the 
body, 220 ; their ministrations to be for 
the general good, 220, 221 ; how affected 
when Christ comes, 368. 

Schaff, Dr., 117. 

Scbmucker, Dr. J. G., 334, 402. 

Schubert on nature's yearnings, 63, 64. 

Schweinitz, H. C. Ton, hymn by, 111. 

Science, men of, do not stop on account 
of difficulties, 13, 14; what they tell us 
of the interior of the earth, 75, 76 ; falsely 
so called, 293. 

Seed, the woman's, 113, 352. 

Semisch, Dr., 240, 245, 332, 398. 

Sevens, system of, in Scripture, 266, 291. 

Sibylline Oracles, 64, 390. 

Signs of the Lord's coming, 292-300, 371. 

Sirr, Dr. D'Arct, 425. 

Skeptics multiplying, 300. 

Societies, Mission, Bible, Sunday-school, 
&c, 300. 

Spener, Dr., 333, 337, 403, 425, 431. 

Spiritualism, 281. 

Spirituality demanded by the gospel, 119. 

Spiritual resurrection, 93, 96, 103. 

Stier, Dr., 324, 339, 400. 

Strabo, 65. 

Stuart, Professor, 116, 270, 401 ; on the 
twofold resurrection, 96. 99, 103, 104. 

Study, when a pleasure, 14. 

Sulpicius Skverus, 395. 

Summary of the judgment scenes, 169- 
171 ; of millenarian doctrines, 233, 234. 

T. 

Tares, parable of the, 45, 46. 

Tatian, 386. 

Taylor, D. T., 426. 

Ten Kingdoms, the, 173, 262. 

Tertullian. 232. 241, 337, 388. 

Thankfulness due for the gospel, 110. 

Tholuck, Dr., 339. 

Tlllinghast, his argument on the literal- 
ness of Messiah's kingdom, 127, 128, 126. 

Time of the return of Christ, references 
to, 373; not entirely and perpetually 
concealed, 259-261. 

Times immediately preceding the judg- 
ment, 169-172; of the Savior's return, 
261, 262, 292-294, 371; after Christ's re- 
turn, 374. 

Times, our, aspect of. 10, 292, 294 : opinions 
of distinguished men on, 301, 316-322. 

Transfiguration, the, a picture of the 
kingdom, 213. 

Translation, the. when Christ comes, 
108, 109, 162 ; the two stages in, 349-353. 

Trench. Dean, 340. 

Tribulation, the, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25; some 
escape it, 349 ; who shall suffer it, 351, 
352, 353 ; when it is to begin, 22. 

Trumpet, the last, 152, 153. 



Turkey, 279. 

Tyng, Dr. S. H., 318, 424. 



Unbelief a characteristic of the last times, 
42, 43, 261, 265 ; the spirit of, too preva- 
lent among modern Christians, 286,300. 

Unsanctified, the, discomfiture of, in the 
judgment, 156, 162-168. 

Usher, Archbishop, 49, 78, 269. 



Vials, the seven last, 275-281, 362, 363. 

Tictorinus, 393. 

Virgins, parable of the ten, 351. 

Vitringa, 116. 

Volcanoes, irruptions of, described, 76 

W. 

Waiting for Christ's return, 87. 

Warning to the wicked and careless, 157, 
309. 

Wesley, John, 432. 

Whitby, 94, 184, 399. 

Whiting, Professor, 101. 

Witnesses, God's, 258. 

Wolffe, Dr. Joseph, 65. 

World, the, to abound with wickedness 
till Christ comes, 42 ; its population to 
be of good and bad till then, 45, 46; its 
original estate, 62 ; its present condition, 
63, 132, 134, 166; to be restored, 64, 65, 
86, 211; is not to be annihilated, 66-70; 
is to be regenerated, 71, 75; end of, how 
to be understood, 73, 74; is not to be 
depopulated, 69 ; Christ's kingdom not 
from, 121 ; kingdoms of, to be broken, 
150 ; the nations of, how affected by the 
judgment, 151, 170; its present state to 
endure six thousand years from Adam, 
237, 255, 267; present age of, 208, 269; 
will be taken by dismaying surprise 
when Christ comes, 156; Bible chro- 
nology of, 356-362; how affected by 
Christ's coming, 369. 

World to come, the, 210 ; is the present 
world in its renewed condition, 211, 212; 
glory of, exhibited on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, 213; Christ to be pre- 
sent in it, 214-217 ; to have in it the 
ministrations of the glorified, 218-221; 
the powers of evil to be excluded fron 
it. 222, 223; the Jews to have the pre- 
eminence in, 223, 224; the curse to be 
repealed, 226-228; lines on, 229, 374, 
375. 

I. 

Year-day system explained, 270. 

Years, the 1260, of the little horn, 271- -274. 



Zoroaster, 267. 



THE END. 



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